Hawks & Sparrows

This afternoon, while planting seeds in my flower pots, I lifted my head and stared directly into the gaze of a red-shouldered hawk.  (That’s my best guess as to the species).  It was breath-taking.  He was resting on a branch, probably 25 feet away and directly in my line of vision.  And when we locked eyes, I was so startled that I burst out, “Hi!” 

He stared at me for a moment, then unfurled his wings and took off…and I ran after him to see if I could catch another glimpse. 

But he was gone.

I don’t know about you, but moments like that are so exciting.  Seeing the unexpected, like the fox that turned and looked at me right outside my window a few nights ago, or the clear night sky studded with diamond-like stars, just makes me think – life is beautiful! 

How often I must miss the wonderful, the delightful…because I am too busy looking at myself. 

In the past two weeks, I have been thinking about fullness of life.  My thoughts were really spurred on by a quote from yet another of the L.M. Montgomery books.  In this quote, a fellow teacher is describing Anne, and the reason for her bitterness/jealousy of her for the previous year:

“You come into a room delightfully…oh, how I remember you into school that first morning.  But I think the real reason I’ve hated you so is that you’ve always seemed to have some secret delight…as if every day of life was an adventure.  In spite of my hatred there were times I acknowledged to myself that you might just have come from some far off star”  (Anne of Windy Poplars, p. 150).

OH.  To be described as having a secret delight… facing every day as if it was an adventure…

And then it hit me.

Shouldn’t this describe every Christian?

I mean, if I really sit and think about it, Jesus has promised us abundant life.

“…The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”  John 10:10

And yet, instead of realizing that we are eternally secure, and that God provides us with everything we need (I Timothy 6:17-19; II Peter 1:3), we focus on what we think we are missing.  And we miss out on the adventure God has in store for us!

Sometimes, it just takes a glance from a hawk to snap us back into reality.  Life is beautiful.  And the One who feeds the sparrows is the same One who cares for us.  Why do we worry?  Life should be flowing out of us!  The Spirit of God lives in us and empowers us each day (Romans 8:11) if we only get ourselves out of the way.  Do people see our secret delight?  And should it be a secret?

So, may “I sing because I’m happy…I sing because I’m free…His eye is on the sparrow….and I know He watches me”.

Spring

Yesterday was Easter.
It was an absolutely gorgeous day – full of sunshine and “spring-y-ness”. And at church, we focused on thoughts of Christ and his death and resurrection. That’s what this season is all about! Yet, I found myself thinking – “They can’t tell me anything new…I’ve heard this all before.” And I felt myself zoning out.

How shameful! And sad. To think that I could already know all there is to know about my Savior’s love for me? But how often I fall into the trap of pride – thinking I know things and missing out on what God is trying to teach me.

It made me think of an older hymn by A. Katherine Hankey:

I love to tell the story of unseen things above,
Of Jesus and His glory, of Jesus and His love.
I love to tell the story, because I know ’tis true;
It satisfies my longings as nothing else can do.

I love to tell the story, ’twill be my theme in glory,
To tell the old, old story of Jesus and His love.

I love to tell the story; more wonderful it seems
Than all the golden fancies of all our golden dreams.
I love to tell the story, it did so much for me;
And that is just the reason I tell it now to thee.

I love to tell the story; ’tis pleasant to repeat
What seems, each time I tell it, more wonderfully sweet.
I love to tell the story, for some have never heard
The message of salvation from God’s own holy Word.

I love to tell the story, for those who know it best
Seem hungering and thirsting to hear it like the rest.
And when, in scenes of glory, I sing the new, new song,
’Twill be the old, old story that I have loved so long.

That last verse always gets me. Those who know it best are hungering and thirsting to hear it like the rest… What better thing to dwell on than this WONDERFUL story!?!?

I’m just about to leave for good ol’ NC after spending some time in PA. I’ve spent fabulous time with family and friends, visited beautiful places, read lovely books, and worked on papers for my Masters work. (woo hoo!)

I’ve been re-reading through my Anne of Green Gables series, and found this quote in Anne of Windy Poplars which seemed to sum up how I’m feeling about leaving home:

“I came up today, bag and baggage. Of course I hated to leave Green Gables. No matter how often and long I’m away from it, the minute a vacation comes I’m part of it again as if I had never been away, and my heart is torn over leaving it. But I know I’ll like it here…” (L.M. Montgomery, p. 12).

I love home. I love my family more. But I know that God is taking me exactly where I need to go. I need to focus on His story – the one that is more glorious than “all the golden fancies of all my golden dreams”. And...He’s writing my story – and the time and place he has determined for me is NC right now. And I will go – I know that I’ll like it there – because Jesus is with me wherever I go!

One of the things I had to read for class this week was a chapter of Henry David Thoreau’s book – and this quote stuck out to me:

“We should be blessed if we lived in the present always, and took advantage of every accident that befell us, like the grass which confesses the influence of the slightest dew that falls on it; and did not spend our time in atoning for the neglect of past opportunities, which we call doing our
duty. We loiter in winter while it is already spring.” (Thoreau)

I don’t think anything is accidental. I do think God has planned my story out – and I thank Him for a new springtime! May I not loiter in winter when He has already given me spring.

And what better way to start spring than to remember the old, old story – of Jesus and His love.