Monday, October 21, 2013

A Little Birdie Told Me...

Recently, my wonderful hubby bought me a stuffed Woodstock.
I’ve always loved this Peanuts character since I was a little girl. What’s not to love? The cute yellow birdie with the black eyes and the squeaky voice, following Snoopy around? C’mon! And this bird started me thinking about the value of birds, in the context of scripture. Birds are part of God’s Creation, after all. And through various scriptural passages, they’re also teaching tools and visual aids. Specifically, scripture illuminates the value they- and we, in turn- have through God’s Eyes: “Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?” Matthew 6:26 “Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feedeth them: how much more are ye better than the fowls?” Luke 12:24 “Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God?” Luke 12:6 Feelings of worthlessness frequently pop up for us. Abuse, failures, trauma and addictions can often produce an unworthy self-concept. We feel like we’re the lowest forms of life, pointless, like some horrible accident. Not true. Value- we have more of it in God’s estimation than we can ever feel. It’s unconditional, irrevocable and incredibly important to God. He wants us to know how much we matter to Him. After all, that’s the whole point to John 3:16, isn’t it? “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” He wouldn’t waste something as valuable as His Son on something worthless, now would He? We can often get so anesthetized to that scripture; we tend to overlook our own value. We are valuable. We are loved- beyond our feelings, experiences and finite minds. We just are. I’ll be thinking about birds in a new way now. They’re beautiful, sing songs and fly. But now, they are reminders. A little birdie did tell me about our value. I think it’s worth listening to the message. Copyright © 2013 by Sheryle Cruse

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