I was sitting on my back deck thumbing through my Bible while
my husband was reading something on his phone.
It was a beautiful warm, spring morning. The birds were
chirping. The sky was blue. But inside, it did not feel like a nice sunny day!
It felt like I was under a dark heavy cloud. My mind was filled with anxious thoughts. The MasterCard bill had come in, again. I had just checked the mail to find MORE bills...again. It was nothing terribly unusual, but the straw that broke the "proverbial camel’s back" was that our car had broken down, again…for the second time in a month. It just
seemed there were more bills to pay than there was money in the account.
While we were sitting there, hummingbirds were flying up to
the feeder on our deck. They were flitting back and forth from the tree to the
feeder. One red-throated hummingbird was such a pretty, iridescent green. He just
kind of sparkled in the sun, so my husband decided to take a picture of it. He
is not a point-and-shoot kind of a photographer so he pulled out his humongous
camera with a wide-angled lens and attached it to the deck with this big contraption-of-a-thing
that positioned the camera about 6 inches from the hummingbird feeder.
We sat and waited to capture this beautiful little bird on
camera, but it stopped coming. The big camera scared him away. I can’t
blame him, to a little bird this camera must have looked like a huge threat. So
after a while, my husband left his camera there and went inside to get to work
and my daughter left for school.
I continued sitting there, trying (probably too hard) to hear God say something to me. Nothing. I flipped pages in my Bible, unsure as to what I
should read. I shut my eyes to try to focus my thoughts on God but all I picture in my mind's eye was the MasterCard bill sitting on the kitchen counter.
As I sat there the tiny hummingbird returned and perched on
the spruce tree in the back corner of the yard. I know his eyes are small, but
I can say with certainty that he was looking over at the hummingbird feeder :) After a few moments of contemplation this courageous little bird bravely dashed
over to the feeder and began drinking like there was no tomorrow! I thought he was
going to suck the feeder dry…seriously, he was one thirsty bird!
I was proud of him. The big scary camera equipment
was still there, but that brave little bird came overcame his fear; he was determined to come back... despite how scary it must
have been for him. He inspired me.
“You prepare a feast
for me in the presence of my enemies” (Psalm 23:5, NLT).
God prepares feasts in the presence of our enemies. He doesn’t remove the very things that threaten us and want to rob us of our peace. The feast isn’t prepared after the finances are all worked out—although that would be nice. It is here and it's not dependent on our circumstances, which is great news because not many of us actually live perfect lives! It’s here! It is prepared and waiting for us; and we have been invited to come, to eat and enjoy.
Sometimes we may need to muster some courage to push through
the distractions and the obstacles that try to keep us from taking part in it. The
bills, the relationship problems, the family issues… can seem so all
consuming at times, but the feast is right in front of us and our invitation
has already been sent by God himself to come.
We may have to be very intentional, but if we look for the feast that He has prepared today we can be confident that we will find it.
Written by: Esther Allison
No comments:
Post a Comment