"Look at the birds of the air;
they do not sow or reap or store away in barns,
and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.
Are you not much more valuable than they?"
(Matthew 6:26)
"Aren't two sparrows sold for only a penny?
But not one of them falls to the ground without your Father knowing it.
He even counts every hair on your head!
So don't be afraid.
You are worth more than many sparrows."
(Matthew 10:29-31)
Yesterday it rained and rained and rained. It was so cold! At one point there were even snow flakes mixed in with the rain. My feet were wet, and my hair, and the wind was tugging at my coat and biting my cheeks. It was just generally sort of miserable.Overall, it matched my mood too. I felt so heavy--the result of carrying problems I'm supposed to turn over to God. His hands are so much bigger than mine, and yet, for some reason, I think I am better suited to carry them. However, because I really don't have any control (as much as I like to pretend I do) I was just getting more and more stressed. Stressed about money, stressed about school, stressed about the future. I was also trying to carry other people's problems--something even more pointless because I have even less control!
As all of this was weighing me down and making it even harder for me to climb the hill than the rain already was, I suddenly heard a noise.
It was spontaneous, unusual.
I glanced around.
There, probably two inches deep in a huge puddle, was a robin red-breast.
He was hopping around and splashing with his tiny wings, tossing water onto his head and back with his beak and singing with all of his might.
I stopped to watch, my heart captured by the display of such pure joy. The little fellow had not a care in the world! He looked so light, so carefree--so different from the way I was.
Why wasn't he worried? His world was even more cold and wet than mine was! I could escape indoors; he had nowhere to go. I had a guarantee of warm food; he had to search for his. Yet he was the one splashing in the puddle, not a care in the world, and I was knotting my brow, bent under the load I was insisting on carrying.
He must have a pretty trusting little heart! He had surrendered all to the One who had big enough shoulders to carry his world. Like a small child who hands his jacket to his father so he can run and play, he had handed them all off to Someone.
The same Someone I claim to trust, but by my actions deny.
The robin had opened my ears to a still, small Voice in my heart.
"Don't you think My shoulders are strong enough to carry your world as well? Don't you think I am wise enough? See how I am taking care of this little guy? Aren't you more precious to Me than he?"
