Bird Songs

I’m not a fan of birds… at all.  And I have good reasons for this (at least in my mind I have good reasons).  Let’s see… I’ve had a bird fly straight at my head with a dead baby mouse in its mouth in an Aviary, I’ve had a bird flutter through my hair while sitting in my parent’s back yard, and the worst one of all… I was attacked by two Canadian Geese.  And I mean attacked… they flew at me and hit on my shoulders and backed me against a wall.  So, you see, I’m not a fan of birds.

So I’m intrigued by the lesson that I learned from birds this week.  Funny how God can teach us through anything… even the very thing that we aren’t a fan of.  I’m in “get ready for vacation mode” which means I’m super motivated to exercise and eat healthier.  I need a goal to work towards, and vacation will do that for me.  In fact, my friend posted this on Facebook and it helped get me on the exercise wagon:  Discipline is just choosing between what you want now and what you want most.  So this week, I’ve gotten up early each morning to exercise.

On Tuesday, I went for an early morning walk and became fascinated by the number of birds that were singing.  It was like every bird just woke up and joined together in a choir to serenade the sunrise.  I pondered the fact that while I hear birds throughout the day, I never hear so many singing all at once.  And God reminded me of something I heard… or read… or studied…. (sorry that I can’t remember the source for this one!  It could be Duty or Delight by Tammie Head, but I’m not sure).  Someone said that the birds rise and sing to God in the morning.  What a beautiful thought!  The first thing on a bird’s agenda is to sing praises to their Creator.  What a great way to start the day! 

What if we followed the example of the birds?  What if we started our morning with a praise and worship song?  Because Luke 19:37-40 in The Message says:

^37-38 Right at the crest, where Mount Olives begins its descent, the whole crowd of disciples burst into enthusiastic praise over all the mighty works they had witnessed:

Blessed is he who comes,
    the king in God’s name!
All’s well in heaven!
    Glory in the high places!

³⁹ Some Pharisees from the crowd told him, “Teacher, get your disciples under control!”

⁴⁰ But he said, “If they kept quiet, the stones would do it for them, shouting praise.”

Let’s not allow the stones to shout praise on our behalf.  Instead, let’s join the birds and celebrate our Creator, the One who speaks and it happens (check out Genesis 1 for the creation story), the One who loves whether we do the right thing or rebel against His will (Ephesians 3:17-19; John 3:16), the One who never sleeps (Psalm 121:2-4), the One who hears our prayers (1 Chronicles 7:14).  We have so much to be thankful for… let’s put Psalm 92:1-2 ESV into practice:  It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praise to Your name, O Most High; to declare Your steadfast love in the morning and Your faithfulness at night.

And here’s Revelation Song by Phillips, Craig and Dean to get your praises going:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsiDukXIeVY