Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Pinches of Blue Sky Silently Preach


As if God pinched off a piece of the sky, rolled it in His hands like Play-doh and placed it in a safe, soft nest, these tiny blue spheres silently sit and wait. They are treasures, His treasures, i feel it as i look at them. They are from Him. His gift. He knows they sit right here, in this tiny nest across the road from our home.
If you have ever sat with us on our front porch, you know the sweetness that swirls around it. God surely sits on our front porch, we're quite certain of it. The view is from Him; we visit a peaceful place far from the madness of this world when we sit on our front porch. And just across the street, nestled in a bluebird house Pete made in 3rd grade hanging on an old fence post, God places treasure.
Every year we watch for the bluebirds to come, we anticipate the process as we watch them work together to build their home. God needs a place to put His tiny blue treasures. We watch them as they watch us. These tiny bluebirds surely know us by now --- i hope they know how much we see God in their world.
Do they see God in our world? i hope.
The mother bird diligently sits on her blue sky eggs, she peers at us through her round window. Her window faces our porch; we can see her as she waits.
A book, a grand book could be written about what unfolds across from our front porch each year. A book filled with lessons for parents, for marriages, for children, for life. The bluebirds have it right --- in many ways they are wiser than most people i know.
Is it their naivety that allows them to be wise?
Is it the lack of "knowing" so much that enables them to focus on what matters most?
i learn from the mother blue bird every year. She is a tiny blue and orange picture of the Proverbs 31 woman in so many ways. Is it odd that i admire the mother blue bird in the humble birdhouse more than i admire many people i know?
She obediently and diligently attends to the part of this world given her to care for.
She is steadfast in her attentions to the blue treasures given her.
She thinks not of herself as she sits for long hours on her nest, she resists the urge to fly and feel the cool air through her feathers. She sits in the hot nest, obediently and selflessly.
And when her treasures emerge, she WORKS. She works hard. She and the daddy bird fly back and forth all day long bringing food to the little ones who are helpless without them.

But this blog post is not even about the sweet lessons i am reminded of through the beautiful mother blue bird. This blog is about the picture of FAITH i see in the tiny, blue, sky-touched balls resting in her nest.

A friend and i had spent the majority of the day praying, reading, and talking on our front porch. She was mesmerized (as i am each day) by the tranquility and peace of our porch. I will miss this spot greatly when we move to Kenya, oh how i hope the family who comes to live here embraces the graces of this sweet place.
My friend and i talked over hard realities in life, struggles and hurts that are unavoidable it seems in this fallen world. We did not hide from the harshness of life, but we did pause on the porch to carry the pain to God. And His peace flowed like a river into the places that had been bruised and battered. As we talked, we watched the workings of the bluebird parents. It's a daily pleasure of mine, but one she has never witnessed. It was God's "touch".
As our day came to a close, i sensed we should peek in the nest, for over the days i had noticed the activities of the bluebirds had changed. I suspected their treasures had arrived. As we slowly lifted the lid and peeked in the nest, our hearts were perfectly primed to feel the greatness of the gift in the nest.
No person,
no committee,
no powerful company,
no ruler of a country,
no person of great wealth or influence,
no one ------- can do this.
It's the picture of peace and faith wrapped together in a tiny blue sky ball. Peace --- they do not move or stir. They are a perfect image of what is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, and admirable. They personify peace.
And they also carry the hope of faith. As we look at these tiny eggs, we can be "certain of what we hope for and sure of what we can not see". Inside these tiny blue balls a graceful bird is forming that will spread wings and fly in the sky it's very eggs appear to have been plucked from.

The egg does not at all resemble the thing it will produce.
We ---- are to be the same.
The finished product of "us" in God's hands will not even resemble the way we were "before" He touched us. Faith ---- to be sure of what we hope for even as we are certain of what we can not yet see.

The blue sky eggs in the nest fill my soul with great hope ------ of what my Father can and will do in me. It is my task to rest in His nest (no matter how comfortable or uncomfortable it may be). To patiently wait for Him, receive what He brings me, and grow strong ---- so that my wings will be able to carry me the distance He has planned for me. To be so filled with what HE places in me, that the outlfow of my life will be HIS.
If the little blue birds now hatched and chirping in the nest across the road can do it, surely, by God's grace, we can to.

I'm learning from the bluebirds --- they are such sweet silent teachers.

"And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you." Philippians 4:7-9 NIV

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Hebrews 11:1 KJV  

Photos taken by my Steve of the bluebird house seen from our sweet front porch. 

2 comments:

  1. Once again, you bless me...in fact earlier today i was thinking of this passage in Phil and decided that i need to memorize it again!

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  2. Well,dove of my life, you write about bluebirds. Beautiful observations of what God is doing from the view of our front porch. Thank you for noticing and for sharing.
    Loving you madly

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