It's like my Heavenly Father knows exactly what I need. Why should I be so surprised?
This spring God has sent me all the birds one rarely sees, just one more time as they pass through on their way north. Goldfinches, bluebirds (that hatched in our own bluebird houses), northern parulas, indigo buntings, red-winged blackbirds, a Cooper's hawk, a yellow bellied woodpecker and a rose-breasted grosbeak. It took 17 years to see all those birds, usually one or two kinds of those a year along with the usual crowd, and now here they all are, sitting on my water pans and at my feeders. When I sit at my chair by the window, I already miss them. Then I look around where my boys played in the big cluster of live oaks they called "the fort," the big oak where they built the doghouse with their Dad, where they swung off the limb 15 feet up (because swinging on a normal limb was not exciting enough), the field where they played football, baseball, basketball, and even croquet, and I get a little weepy.
And wouldn't you know it—we have been reading through old journals and right now have come upon those we wrote when we first moved to this place. The memories are flooding back like a dam has broken, not always good ones I must admit. Many times we wondered if we had made a huge mistake coming here, but now, after all the toil, after all the worry, after all the stress, we understand how much we have grown, how much stronger we are, and what a wonderful home we managed to make for our family—in spite of it all.
And now we can leave with some pride. It may not be a mansion. It isn't even a House Beautiful photo shoot. We won't even make enough off of it to buy a new place outright and will have mortgage in our old age, something we never intended. But this time we are sure we can handle whatever happens. We have handled things you wouldn't even believe, and we can do it all again, if a little more slowly. All those trials we came through have given us confidence—not in ourselves, but in the God who helped us for so many years before.
And now He is reminding us with all those little birds—not sparrows, but birds that are rarely seen in any of our neighbors' backyard feeders. He is watching them, and he is watching us—again. And with that kind of help, we can make it through anything.
The LORD is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek you (Ps 9:9-10).
Dene Ward
This spring God has sent me all the birds one rarely sees, just one more time as they pass through on their way north. Goldfinches, bluebirds (that hatched in our own bluebird houses), northern parulas, indigo buntings, red-winged blackbirds, a Cooper's hawk, a yellow bellied woodpecker and a rose-breasted grosbeak. It took 17 years to see all those birds, usually one or two kinds of those a year along with the usual crowd, and now here they all are, sitting on my water pans and at my feeders. When I sit at my chair by the window, I already miss them. Then I look around where my boys played in the big cluster of live oaks they called "the fort," the big oak where they built the doghouse with their Dad, where they swung off the limb 15 feet up (because swinging on a normal limb was not exciting enough), the field where they played football, baseball, basketball, and even croquet, and I get a little weepy.
And wouldn't you know it—we have been reading through old journals and right now have come upon those we wrote when we first moved to this place. The memories are flooding back like a dam has broken, not always good ones I must admit. Many times we wondered if we had made a huge mistake coming here, but now, after all the toil, after all the worry, after all the stress, we understand how much we have grown, how much stronger we are, and what a wonderful home we managed to make for our family—in spite of it all.
And now we can leave with some pride. It may not be a mansion. It isn't even a House Beautiful photo shoot. We won't even make enough off of it to buy a new place outright and will have mortgage in our old age, something we never intended. But this time we are sure we can handle whatever happens. We have handled things you wouldn't even believe, and we can do it all again, if a little more slowly. All those trials we came through have given us confidence—not in ourselves, but in the God who helped us for so many years before.
And now He is reminding us with all those little birds—not sparrows, but birds that are rarely seen in any of our neighbors' backyard feeders. He is watching them, and he is watching us—again. And with that kind of help, we can make it through anything.
The LORD is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek you (Ps 9:9-10).
Dene Ward
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