The Birds of the Air

Always looking for more color in my life--including in my garden, the last several years I’ve prayed for goldfinches to come to my home. Their bright yellow bodies make them some of the most colorful birds in our area but less common than red cardinals, and blue jays. Once, I told an elderly lady who loved birds of my prayer. She retorted, “Well, if you’re going to pray for them to come you’d better have something for them to eat!” They did come. Every year. And they had plenty to eat among the seeded grasses in the back of our apartments.

I recently prayed for goldfinches to come to our new home though they usually come in autumn. But then I remembered the admonition to provide food. Oops, no tall, seeded grasses here.  “Oh well, Lord I’ll leave that to you.” This week, they came! They perched atop my bamboo stakes but I couldn’t grab my camera fast enough without startling them. Today however, I prayed, “Please let me get some pictures before they dart away.” Prayer answered. I did. Not only did I get pictures but I found who’s been eating my zinnia petals. I had unknowingly helped the Lord provide food for the goldfinches when I planted several varieties of zinnias.  I’d been leaving the older flowers in place for their color though deadheading them might have made a few more flowers. Now I know. Go for it goldfinches I have plenty—be my guests.

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

While I Wasn’t Looking

As I raised the blinds this morning I was pleasantly surprised to find another red hibiscus opening. I knew that the bud to its left would likely open tomorrow but I hadn’t seen this one coming! What a treat! From its plant stand, the hibiscus bush is taller than I am with this flower at the very top. The nearby shelf is the sixth one up; I had to climb a step stool for this photo.

The oak pollen that I thought was finished is making our walks miserable. We need more rain to wash it away and to ease our moderate drought status. Lord Jesus, please glorify the Father by giving us rain—without trouble (see John 14:13).

Gardens for Life

Happy Thanksgiving! Today in the U.S. we’re celebrating Thanksgiving Day. Many have lost sight of the intent for the day and can only think of turkey, football and “Black Friday” materialism but the original Thanksgiving, which has been reiterated by many presidential proclamations, was for the purpose of thanking God for his provision of life and the sustaining of it through food and safety.

The Pilgrims who celebrated this first Thanksgiving were a church from England, formed in the 1600’s when they saw no hope for positive change in the Church of England. They were persecuted for believing that a person could have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and for wanting to see “the churches of God revert to their ancient purity and recover their primitive order, liberty and beauty” (William Bradford)*, for believing that no one but Jesus could be the head of the church. They were “hounded, bullied, forced to pay assessments to the Church of England, clapped into prison on trumped up charges, and driven underground,” and “constantly spied upon”*. Finally, (to put it very simply) these “Separatists” had had enough and left England and set out for the “New World” of “America”.

When they arrived in the “New World” at Plymouth (now in the state of Massachusetts) weary from stormy seas and cramped quarters many became ill and died. Those who survived had little to work with physically or materially and knew nothing of this wilderness. Through an amazing combination of events, God sent the “Indian” Squanto to help them survive. He taught them how to fish and grow crops. Ah, here’s the garden part. Without the growing of food plants, they would have all died. Gardens were essential to their survival. But it wasn’t enough to just sow their seeds, even doing it the right way, it was up to God to make the seeds grow and give them favorable weather.

For this they were profoundly grateful. They celebrated God’s provision with a feast—together, as a community (not just as separate families). They invited some “Indian” friends who brought about a hundred more! In addition to the wild game the “Indians” brought, they shared from their gardens, “carrots, onions, turnips, parsnips, cucumbers, radishes, beets and cabbages.”* The “Indians” had also dried and brought some summer fruits from the wild—God’s garden, “and introduced them to the likes of blueberry, apple, and cherry pie.”* They had popcorn too!

Thank you Lord for gardens and farms and for those who work hard tending them to grow our food.



*The Light and The Glory by Peter Marshall & David Manuel