When We’re Most Alive – Part III

John Stott said that he felt most alive when he was in public worship, in friendship, and when contemplating birds. Stott was a bird watcher, carrying his binoculars in travels across the world. He especially enjoyed the early morning hours when birds were awakening and he could enjoy the sights and sounds of creation. The Scriptures tell us that God expresses Himself through creation (see Psalm 19 and Romans 1 for just two of many examples). This expression is more than glory and beauty, it is also unwritten writing and unspoken speech – if we will watch and listen and ponder we will read God’s word (notice the lower case “w”) and hear His voice.

Consider the little wren, such a small bird with such a loud song. Wrens inevitably build their nests where I don’t want them to, hanging baskets on the porch and deck for example. Or then there was the time a wren flew through a broken window in our garage and built her nest in the garage attic, while she knew the escape route from the garage her little ones didn’t; Vickie had to open the garage door and shoo them in the direction of flight and freedom. The little wren I’m watching is also a little wren that our Father is watching – I don’t know how He does it but Jesus says He does, if He watches sparrows I’m sure He watches wrens. So I’m on my deck watching a little wren sing her song of glory, and I’m watching the little bird right along with my Father; not bad to have God as our bird-watching companion.

We once had a home with a large oak tree right off our sunroom; I could sit in the sunroom with a cup of coffee and watch a microcosm of creation hour after hour; birds and squirrels and rabbits and deer (there were bird feeders around the tree) – that one oak tree contained life and activity and interaction.

Whether it’s the ocean’s expanse and roar or a narrow brook’s soft ripple, an elephant or a hummingbird, the peaks of the Rockies or the honeycombs of the Blue Ridge, a Giant Redwood or a lily; our God speaks to us in the heavens and on the earth, He is always communicating, always beckoning, always drawing – all that we see reflects that which is beyond what we see, that which is beyond ourselves – do we see that?

Little wonder John Stott included birds in his answer.