Don't let go of the song

How I enjoy listening to the songs of the birds each day!

(American goldfinch)

This morning I was reading from "Streams in the Desert", one of the devotional books I have been reading yearly for probably 15 years!  It is THAT good!  I use other devotionals too, but this is one that just speaks to my heart.

"Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the Lord and to praise Him for the splendor of His holiness as they went out at the head of the army, saying:

'Give thanks to the Lord, 

for His love endures forever.'

As they began to sing and praise, the Lord set ambushes against the men...who were invading Judah, and they were defeated.  (2 Chronicles 20:22)

Just think, when the Israelites went to war, God set His worship team ahead of the military men!  What if we would worship and praise Him when we are in a spiritual battle?

(white-crowned sparrow)

"Oh, if we would worry less about our problems and sing and praise more!  There are thousands of things that shackle us that could be turned into instruments of music, if we just knew how to do it."

(red-winged blackbird)

"...how much more joyful, if [we] would stop indulging in self-centered and inward thinking and instead would daily lift [our] experiences to God, praising Him for them."

(brown thrasher and robin)

(egret)

"It is easier to sing [our] worries away than to reason them away.  Why not sing in the morning?"

  

"Think of the birds - they are the first to sing each day, and they have fewer worries than anything else in creation. And don't forget to sing in the evening, which is what the robins do when they have finished their daily work."

 "Once they have flown their last flight of the day and gathered the last bit of food, they find a treetop from which to sing a song of praise."



(Eastern meadowlark - Kansas state bird)

"Oh that we might sing morning and evening, offering up song after song of continual praise throughout our day!"

 (purple martin gathers leaves to line her nest)

"Don't let the song go out of your life

Although it sometimes will flow

In a minor strain; it will blend again

With the major tone you know.

(sparrow tries to keep starling from getting into his nest.  Ironically, the sparrow stole the nest site from the purple martin!)

"Although shadows rise to obscure life's skies,

And hide for a time the sun,

The sooner they'll lift and reveal the rift,

If you let the melody run."

 (Grackle -  "Look how impressive I am!  You like me, you know you do!")

"Don't let the song go out of your life;

Though the voice may have lost it's trill,

Though the quivering note may die in your throat,

Let it sing in your spirit still."

 (house finch)

"Don't let the song go out of your life;

Let it ring in your soul while here;

And when you go hence, it will follow you thence,

And live on in another sphere."

 (ringed turtle-dove)

(Downy woodpecker)

(Great blue heron and Canada geese)

 (red-bellied woodpecker)

 

(cooper hawk....enemy of small birds. )

 "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy...

I have come that they might have life, and have it to the full." 

                                                                 John 10:10

(where are my Baltimore orioles this year?  Still waiting...)

(I may not have identified all the birds in my yard correctly.  Not an expert.  I just happen to love bird-watching and do my best!)