Weekly Devotion: May 2, 2024
Songbirds at Night
Our house backs up to a fairly large woodland area. Leigh and I enjoy sitting on the back porch and pretending like we are camping out deep in the woods – it’s one of my favorite things about our life in Madison. My least favorite thing about the back porch are the songbirds at night. I’m fine with the wrens making nests everywhere they can stack leaves and debris. I love the owls hunting and hooting in the woods. What I don’t like are the songbirds of the night that won’t shut-up at 11PM.
My nightly songbirds are close to the house, and they are loud! They recently woke me up in the dark of the morning at 1AM last week. I don’t remember having songbirds of the night at previous homes. Maybe they were there, but they kept their distance. I love birds, but I don’t like the songbirds of the night that wake me up. These birds could also be thought of as “the things that worry us” and wake us up in the middle of the night. These worries won’t shut-up or be shut out. These worrisome songbirds of the night chirp away inside our minds and keep us from a good night’s rest. What keeps you up at night these days?
I usually sleep well, but sometimes a thought surfaces in my mind that won’t let go. A sermon idea, a conversation that didn’t go well, or something left undone on my to do list. These songbirds inconveniently worry me in the middle of the night. I find some comfort in Jesus’ teaching on the subject. “Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by worrying can add a single hour to your span of life?” (Matthew 6:25-27)
I encourage you to pray to God who doesn’t want you to worry. Pray that his grace will mute the songbirds of the night and help you focus on his care for the “birds of the air”. Are you more value than they are? Pray that God will take care of the worries as you trust in him.
Peace,
Zack@madisonfirstumc.com
