All creation shouts the glory of God;
    the skies advertize the work of God’s imagination.
Day after day the heavens declare the wonder;
    night after night they reveal knowledge.
They have no speech, they use no words;
    no sound is heard from them.
Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
    their words to the ends of the world. – Psalm 19

Happy Monday, friends! Here in North Carolina we enjoyed a perfect spring weekend. The trees are beginning to burst with color, the temperatures have been in the 60’s, and the birds are singing their hearts out.

It’s as if all creation has picked up the signal, and life is pushing through with insistence, with conviction, and with ebullient celebration.

Listening to the birds:

Sunday afternoon, while Rebekah returned to church to work with a new class of small-group leaders, I sat out on the deck, took deep breaths of fresh life, got into a good novel, and took a few more photographs of the evidence.

I wondered about the birds, and what makes them so much fun to watch? I think part of it is the fact that they always look so enthusiastic! They swoop in at breakneck speed, stop on a dime, gobble up a little seed, then look up as if to say, “Thank you!” before darting off to circle the garden a few more times. They seldom stay in one spot long enough for the camera to focus, but when I capture an image they always appear to be grateful.

“That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?” – Matt 6:25-27

Listening to my heart:

I felt that way at church, yesterday (singing praises with a smaller crowd because everyone seem to have cleared out for Spring Break). I was struck by the spirit of gratitude, of celebration, and of embracing the spring-like quality of new life in Christ.

It is pretty-much the same song that the birds have been singing. It’s a song we are all invited to sing – every day.

What a great way to launch this new week – singing our hearts out with the birds, with all of creation, and with the ebullient, insistent, grateful Presbyterians at 12605 Capitol Boulevard in Wake Forest!

(Enjoy more new bird photos:)