Birds in Bare Trees

  Trust in the Lord and do good;

    dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.

⁴ 

Take delight in the Lord,

    and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Psalm 37:3-4

  On my way in to work today I chose to mainstream and ended up in traffic. You'd think a town the size of Benton wouldn't suffer from car congestion but certain routes around the schools fill up fast. 

   While sitting in line to turn left at the stop sign, I enjoyed a view of our beautiful Presbyterian church building. Its charming, compact architecture invites passersby in to pray and meditate.  In the side yard closest to our parade of impatience, two bare trees boasted one bird each. One held a fat scarlet-bellied  cardinal and the other tree held an even fatter mockingbird.  I switched off my CD and rolled down the window to hear their songs. They took turns showing off their repertoires and precisely at 8:00 a.m. the Methodist church bells joined them to fill in the background. 
     Dear friends, people need to hear believers singing from bare trees. God's good in the winter, even when we don't understand our lack or our loss.  He knows how it ends, when it ends, and most importantly why it must be the way it is for now. Whatever tree God places us on and on whatever limb we cling, may we sing out with joy simply because He's swaying on the bare limb in the bare tree with us, and He is enough. 


Why should I feel discouraged?
Why should the shadows come?
Why should my heart feel lonely,
and long for heaven and home?

When Jesus is my portion,
a constant Friend is He,
His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know He watches me.

I sing because I'm happy -
I sing because I'm free.
His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know He watches me.

Though the fig tree does not bud

    and there are no grapes on the vines,

though the olive crop fails

    and the fields produce no food,

though there are no sheep in the pen

    and no cattle in the stalls,

18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord,

    I will be joyful in God my Savior.

Habakkuk 3:17-18

 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?" Matthew 6:26