Blanket Rolled Into the Sky

Yesterday Nathan and I were again walking to school. There were hundreds, likely thousands, of birds eating in massive groups across the intramural track and field. So we sprinted right through the middle of this huge mass of blackness. Running as fast as we could the birds took to the air all around us. We were laughing and somewhat in awe of all these birds flapping the wind all around us. After we ran through them for the first time, Nathan said that it looked like a black blanket being rolled up into the sky. Now that description sounds poetic to me.

We have made a habit of running through the birds and sending them upward and away in flight. We've only done it maybe three times. Today, Nathan associated two experiences (the one were birds were in church and the other where birds fly) and said, “I think they are in church.” So there we were sprinting hand in hand as the sun was just beginning to peak through the pink sky with hundreds or thousands of black birds flying around us. Indeed, it is church - a sacred moment of worship. God's creation of animal and light and life is present powerfully in a moment shared between father and son.

Jesus spoke about birds and invited us to consider them. It is funny how we will consider scripture or meditate on a commentary or reflect upon a great new book, but not a bird. When Jesus watched the birds he explained the wisdom they reveal about life. These birds do not have barns nor seed planting strategies nor cookbooks full of recipes. Yet, God does not let them go hungry. We worry and fret and wring hands about much that we are not even in control of. God is in charge. So, enjoy life. Stop worrying about what you cannot control. Live in the church of life and let God care for you.