Grandma cut the Christmas ribbon and pulled down the trash bag to reveal yet another 50-pound bag of birdseed. She threw up her arms and squealed “Oh, my goodness! Something I can use!!!”
We buried both of my husband’s grandmothers in April. I just shared with you one of my favorite memories of one of them. The backyard of Grandma’s duplex on the corner city lot looked like a scene from Snow White. She’d even been known to bottle-feed freezing squirrels during the worst of Wisconsin winters.
I didn’t realize how contagious Grandma’s delight for her backyard babies was until I saw a cardinal outside my kitchen window this spring and yelled “Look! It’s a cardinal! He’s so pretty!” I was so loud that I scared the poor thing away even through the closed windows!
So for Mother’s Day, my husband and daughter got me three bird feeders and a birdbath. I placed them all strategically hoping to catch a glimpse of the cardinal every day.
But he didn’t come.
Instead, I saw robins, crows, house finches, and a random pigeon. I concluded that I’d scared the pretty birds away and decided not to purchase another bag of birdfeed.
Until the first day the weather warmed up enough to open the windows.
Our yard was alive with bird songs that drowned out the traffic! As I stopped to watch and listen, I noticed yellow finches and chickadees. And the house finches splashed in the water bath like toddlers in a kiddie pool! After a few days, I saw our proud cardinal eating seed off the deck.
Now I run from one window to the other squealing “Look, it’s sooo pretty!!” while my husband and daughter laugh at me. To me, every bird sighting is a gift from my Heavenly Father sent to brighten my day with beauty, song, and memories of Grandma.
A Lesson in Motivation from the Birds
When I read today’s featured post by Sharon Hazel of LimitlessHorizon.com, I wondered, what if I’d given up and put it all away? My Mother’s Day gifts given with so much love would have been wasted, and my family left feeling rejected. We would have missed out on so much joy, so many blessings, all because I only wanted to see the prettiest bird.
And what if the other birds had heard my praise for the cardinal and decided they weren’t good enough? What if the house finch said to himself “I’m not as pretty as the cardinal, and Valerie doesn’t want to see me, so I won’t even use the birdbath?” Or if the yellow finch thought “I’m not as bright as the cardinal, so I’ll just stay quiet in the tree.”
But isn’t this what we sometimes do with the gifts God gives us? We don’t give the underdog a chance. Or the perception that we don’t have as much to offer keeps us at home.
We all have a song to sing, beauty to share, and a contribution to make. Click To TweetThe Bible says that we all have a song to sing, beauty to share, and a contribution to make. God gave us all gifts to use to glorify and serve Him. Are you missing out because of a perception of inadequacy or your own insistence on only the best and brightest? If you can use a little motivation to step out in faith, then head on over to Bird Song and Other Inspiration.
Click Here To Read This Week’s Featured Post
Bird Song and other Inspiration
Sharon, thanks for linking your post up with Grace & Truth. You are more than welcome to grab the “I’ve Been Featured” button for your post so your readers can celebrate with you. You can find it here.
Grab a Badge & Link Back to this Post
You can download the image below and upload it to your site, or use the html code provided to display the Grace & Truth badge on the sidebar of your blog, at the bottom of your post, or on a “link-ups” page. Again, this isn’t required to link-up, but it is required to be featured.
Let’s Talk About Jesus…
We are putting together an anthology that’s all about putting our faith into words.
Sound interesting?
Valerie, beautiful post from the inspiration of God’s creation and happy memories of dear ones. Thank you for featuring my post, that it spoke to you is so encouraging for a new’blogger’.
It’s my pleasure, Sharon. I sincerely enjoyed your post. Please don’t stop sharing your words. I know it’s hard sometimes, especially as a new blogger, but God has clearly given you a gift to share. If you keep writing, learning, and growing, I know you’ll encourage many women whom you’ll never meet to draw them closer to Jesus. The faith writer’s community is a wonderful, special place, so I hope you’ll interact with us as much as you can. Wishing you the best my friend!
I am so glad you didn’t put away your Mother’s Day gift. It sounds amazing. I love to stop and look at all that God has created, not just the obvious. I do believe we are each uniquely made with gifts to give.
Thanks, Maree. I’ve learned to be watchful for things in nature and appreciate them as little gifts from God to brighten my day. He is so good and thoughtful!
We’re always had bird feeders in our backyard, but this year we put one up in the front yard and I actually see it every day! So I understand your joy. 🙂 Our #1 visitor at it, though, are squirrels. But whatever. They need to eat too. 🙂
My husband can see a bird building a nest in the front yard this morning! And I think squirrels are fun to watch. It’s crows I could do without!