This morning I had a moment of clarity. My cat sat in the window, making his usual growl at the birds chirping away in the trees. I paused what I was doing for a minute to really listen to their song. They spoke in melodic prose, and you couldn’t help but smile. These little birds just sang their heart out in the tree outside my window. While they were singing, that was their present. They lived in their song, not in the worries of the world or the fears that awaited them.

Then, a passage came to mind that I’ve always loved from Matthew.

²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷ Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? (Matthew 6:25-27; NIV)

Jesus goes on to speak about the flowers in the fields and how God so intricately cares for them, so why wouldn’t he care so much more for us? He tells us not to ask about what we will eat, drink or wear. He says to seek His kingdom above all, and all our needs will be bestowed upon us. The passage ends saying, “ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Matt 6:34; NIV)

Essentially in that final verse, Jesus is telling us to LIVE in Him, in the “now”. Trust in our God, put Him first, practice his Kingdom’s calling in your life, live in the present and let Him do the rest! He will not forsake us. He will never fail us. Our world could be falling apart, but what makes us ever think he will leave us when even the birds in the sky know to sing praises to him for all He’s done?

He will provide. Sometimes I get caught up sowing and reaping and storing away in barns, that I forget to just sing my praises that he provides.

He doesn’t tell me I’m going to be blessed with a mansion, a fancy sports car, a book deal or winning the lottery. He tells me he will meet me where I’m at, fulfill my needs and take care of me, so long as I seek first his Kingdom. I’ll rest in that today.