Bird Food- Matthew 6:26

original photo by flickr user marfis75

I have never in my life been in a position where I was really unsure where the next meal was coming from. The greatest worry about food that I have ever really had was more about what kind of food I would have than if I would have food. I guess the only semi-real exception to that would have been my honeymoon.

Here's the cliff notes version of the story. If you are not already 25 years old and don't have a credit card, you can forget about renting a car. That's not such a big deal until you are in a villa in St. Croix with nothing in walking distance that you can get to! I spent all week begging car rental companies to let me rent a car to no avail. Amber and I lived off of peanut butter and ramen noodles for about half the week until we ran out. Then we really got desperate! To keep a long story short, we finally called enough restaurants that we found one we begged to deliver some food to us for a generous tip. That was the best pizza, fruit bowl, salad, sub sandwiches, (and I can't remember what else!) we had ever eaten!

The truth is that my worst "hunger" story was when I was on my honeymoon in the Caribbean and it ended with us feasting! I really don't think that qualifies me to speak on trusting God when so many in the world really are worried about where the money will come from to feed their children the next day.

But I do know this. When mistakes that I had made in the past really came back to haunt me and my relationships, I was laying on a hammock at my in-laws house worrying about how to fix all the things I had broken. I had done everything I knew to do, and it was completely out of my hands at that point. The damage had been done. I was sick at my stomach with regret and worry about the future. And then I looked over and saw some birds hopping on the ground and this verse came to mind. I wasn't worried about a meal; I was worried about a relationship, but the message was the same. God takes care of the birds. According to Jesus, I am more valuable than the birds. God will take care of me. That was the first time I felt peace about the situation since it had blown up months before. And guess what. God brought me through that time and has many more as well.

I love the Matthew 6:26 and I trust it. Even if I trust it from a different angle because so far I have never experienced the kind of poverty that really is concerned with basic necessities. What about you? What are you worried about? Have you done what you can about it? Are you a child of God? Then trust that your heavenly Father really is your heavenly Father!

...And as a side note with a completely different focus, but it has to be said in light of the only "food worry" story I have experienced.....Christians who are so blessed, can we please stop complaining about the food in the cafeteria or at the restaurant!? Can we please stop using the phrase "I'm starving!" when what we really mean is "I ate a light breakfast and my tummy is rumbling at 12:25"!? Can we please thank God that he has provided for us just as he provides for all of His creation. And He has provided for us to the point that we are so free from real worries that our drive to be anxious has to find stuff like how long it takes the waiter to get our food to us and which meat have I already eaten three times this week to worry about instead!

May we stop worrying altogether about the things that we call worries but that are really just complaints about blessings. And may we trust God's fatherly love and omnipotent power enough to stop worrying about the things that could legitimately be worrisome.

After all, "are you not much more valuable [to God] than [the birds]?"