Since my husband lost the job he had been waiting for in March of 2023, things had been really tight financially speaking. Thankfully, he got a job working for his buddy’s construction company and that helped a lot, but it still didn’t keep us afloat. I was quite worried about how we were going to get groceries or pay our bills.
One of my favorite ways to relax is to sit in my hammock. Maybe it is the Central/South American roots in me (a story for later), but I really do love sitting in my hammock. Even when the weather is bad, I have been known to put my hammock stand in the living room.
Of course, when one is stressed and worried about life, even relaxing is hard. This particular day, I had been stewing, er uh… relaxing for so long that a little bird landed on my hammock stand without any fear of me. It certainly surprised me, but I continued to remain still and carefully took a picture of my little bird friend. Some verses came to time mind as I stared at my little feathered buddy.
Matthew 6:25-27, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 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? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? (God’s Justice Bible, NIV 2016)
Here I was, grumbling and worrying in my hammock, when God gently placed a little bird on the stand to remind me that it does not sow or reap or store away food in barns. It doesn’t clothe itself. AND YET!!! Praise God for “and yet.” And yet the Father feeds them! This tiny little bird is cared for by the heavenly father. Then the verse continues: “Are you not much more valuable than they?”
I am more valuable than the feathered creature before me. ‘Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” God intricately designed this little bird’s colors, feathers, textures, size, ability to fly. If he spent that much time on a bird, how much more time did he spend on me!? If he can feed and clothe the bird, then he will feed and clothe me! Does worrying add anything to my life besides high cholesterol or erratic cortisol levels and wrinkles? NO! The Lord reminded me of this truth and after a little cry and confession of my worry, I finally relaxed in my hammock.
