Today is a day from Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring. There are no birds, there are no squirrels. My bird feeders hang dormant. The suet feeders are untouched. Normally when this happens it is short lived because our neighborhood hawk is present. But this was all day. Could there be an owl on my roof that I cannot see? It is rainy and gray but that alone should not explain the total dearth. I feel like singing Peter Paul and Mary’s Where Have All the Flowers Gone and swap the word flowers with the word birds.
Just as I miss the birds so would God miss us if we were not part of His family. Perhaps that’s not true. While the absence of birds leaves me vacant, God’s missing us is a thousand times more devastating to Him. One of the most poignant passages of Scripture is Matthew 23:37. Jesus is weeping over Jerusalem. “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.”
When Jesus told us to pray “Our Father” He revolutionized our approach to God. God is not merely the all powerful, all knowing force in the universe. He is the head of a family. The universe isn’t just about galaxies, solar systems and worlds unnumbered. It is about family. We just had Thanksgiving and not everyone was blessed to sit at a table with all their children and grandchildren. Those not there were missed. Revelation 19 tells us about the wedding feast of the Lamb. It will be a glorious event with all of God’s children in attendance. If you are not there you will be missed. For sure – you will be missed.
Written by Roger Bothwell on December 1, 2016
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