I could get off topic and start another thought here, but will stay focused and write about this morning and watching Mr. Blue Jay. It is a crisp, cool, perfectly sun filled Autumn day and I am wild about the possibilities! NO WORK for 5 days fills me with such delight I want to savor every single second, so I even got up early to have more savoring time!
Last year I didn't feed my birds, between the budget and my prioritizing , the birds made it on number 11 of a 5 point list. This year I went and searched for a cheaper way to feed them and found some bag of inexpensive seeds that looks like something no bird would be excited about. But hey, I am feeding them~ peck away friends!
So, as the story goes, [really love that it sounds like something exciting is being talked about with that one little clause :-) ] I made my delicious morning coffee, and decided to take a picture of a bird feeding.
The air was chilly, but I was determined to capture a photographic moment by being patient. As minutes rolled into almost an hour, my heart was full of gratitude to God for this chance to sit on my own back porch and just BE.
I spied a Blue Jay! There he was just calmly sitting in the very top of the neighbor's tree!
This guy was far away, but I have a good zoom :-). As he waited, I talked to my best friend, who also happens to be God. Thanksgiving was the reason I was luxuriating in the nippy air on my back porch. How is it that I could possibly thank Him for so many things when the list is so long? Do I begin with breath and end with health? How about the job, the friends, the children and grands? Do I mention people by name? The bird would be here and gone by the time I recall everyone I love. (I am kind of a friend collector, btw)
Excuse me from my thoughts for a moment , the Blue Jay is coming closer....
I know, he sat behind the pole on purpose, don't try to convince me he didn't.
Well, being a grateful person doesn't seem so unique, nor sufficient for Thanksgiving 2010, unless I could specify to God how much I truly thanked Him for my life, as bungled up and messy as it may be.
Then there was the Blue Jay.
The Blue Jay was today's lesson on a chilled fall day. He began so far away I could barely see him. I knew by his shape and call that he was indeed a Blue jay, but until he got close enough to see better, I doubted myself and my ability to name him.
Then I waited and he hopped down closer. As I patiently pondered his strategy, I noted he was watching me long before I was watching him! Amazing-he saw me on the porch!! Closer and closer he came to his seeds scattered around~ without apologies I scatter them on the railing so I can see the birds more easily!
Finally, he landed and I clicked, and then I couldn't stop taking pictures-he was magnificent and delightful and beautiful.
Ok ....who was that my camera caught?
About that sparrow.....
Anyone who knows me and reads my rantings, knows there is a moral to my story, so here it comes!
My walk with God has been very much like my watching the Blue jay approaching. The similarities almost overwhelm me, filling me with humility and thanks.
On God's terms He drew me to Himself. As He waited and watched from His lofty, protective place, I impatiently continued to think I knew Him and His ways. I did not, I do not. By studying Him through reading what He has said about Himself and His ways, (The Bible), I am knowing Him more intimately as well as seeing His true Person more clearly. By waiting patiently, not jumping to conclusions, I know Him and His ways and can tell the differences between the true God and the one I have created in my mind or from facts gained by casual observers.
He is Beautiful! He is worth knowing better! He is Who I need to think about on Thanksgiving and every other day He allows me to know Him.
Unlike Mr. Blue Jay, God is not frightened by my presence. Unlike Mr. Blue Jay, God knows me, knows when I need Him , and thankfully, He gently, kindly helps me, even when I am at work. :-)
But for today, I want to tell people how beautiful He truly is. That is my Thanksgiving thought for 2010.