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by Calven Celliers

My inspiration for today’s blog, is the rapport my Gran has with a little visitor that pops by her apartment at least twice a day. Without fail, her bright yellow friend, a Southern Masked Weaver, comes for his fill of bread. He sits on the wall of the balcony of her apartment, and loudly chirps, until she favourably responds to his demands with a few small pieces of bread, that she lovingly places in a neat little row on the wall, and then whistles and chats to him while he carefully watches her and fills his belly. Watching this daily exchange is quite something to behold. The other morning as I sat, a silent witness to this ritual, it got me thinking about Jesus’ words in the Gospel of Matthew:

6Look 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?” (Matthew 6:26NLT)

 Immediately I started humming one of my favourite old hymns, When Jesus is my portion, my constant friend is He; oh, His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches over me. I sing because I’m happy…”

For many these have been very challenging and difficult days, with a lot of uncertainty and resultant stress. It might do all of us good to spend some time watching birds. If not every day, then at least every now and then we need to take the time to observe and remind ourselves how well our feathered friends are cared for. They literally do not know where their next meal is coming from yet, as Joyce Meyer reminds us, she has ‘never seen a bird sitting on a tree branch having a nervous breakdown due to worry.’

Sometimes we may feel like God must have His attention elsewhere and He didn’t see that problem that came up. Don’t fret. Just as God sees all the little birds and cares for their needs, so too He sees all you are struggling with today. He wants you to know that He loves you with His everlasting love. He wants you to know that He alone knows all about you and every hope and dream you hold so dear. He alone knows the issues in your life. He alone knows the way it will all turn out. 

Pray or worry — those are your options as a child of the living God. His Word clearly tells us 17 pray continually” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) and 25…do not worry about your life…” (Matthew 6:25). When you worry you tend to try and take control. And when that happens peace goes out the window! Worry is like a snowball; it starts small, and as you keep rolling it forward it becomes big enough to bury you. All that’s necessary to keep a stationary train from moving forward are two six-inch blocks of wood, but once it builds up a head of steam it will crash through a six-foot-thick wall. So, stop the worry train before it leaves the station!

I have found that God often only gives you what you need for today; that way you have to keep trusting Him for tomorrow. Scripture refers to Jesus as our Good Shepherd whose 3 … sheep listen to his voice …. 4 …. he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice.” (John 10: 3 & 4NIV) Here’s a wonderful thought. No matter what you’re facing, Jesus has already gone ahead of you to arrange everything. Knowing that should help you face tomorrow, confident that God will take care of you.

No matter what problems we face, we can be confident that God will take care of us, because we are valuable to Him. Remember, God loves you so much and promises to be with you in every situation you face. He is by your side. He is the Creator of the universe, who has an abundant supply of every resource. You can trust Him for your finances and health, your job and family. Cast every burden on Him, and He will take care of you!

Yours,

Calven

This Post Has One Comment

  1. Jenny Renwick

    Dearest Calven,
    Thank you for these re-assuring words. So needed to hear (read) them. Thank you, too, for your kinds words about us as staff members at NWCS on Monday night at the AGM.
    Take care.

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