A Note From Tom: February 21st, 2013

Hey, everyone! 

Hope you're having an awesome day! I hope you're finding that God is meeting all your needs and that you know in your heart that He watches you…that He thinks about you…that He knows when you need stuff…

just like I know that the Carolina chickadees and the tufted titmouses...

and the white-breasted nuthatches, and the northern cardinals...

and the white-throated swallows and the house sparrows... 

and the red-bellied and downy woodpeckers... 

and the yellow-bellied sapsuckers…

…that eat the bird food I put in this bird feeder in the dogwood outside our window, need stuff. I can't help thinking about them. It's kinda weird. 

I'm not really sure how it happened or how I started caring about these little feathery guys. Somehow, one day, for some reason, I bought this little square green cage and hung it in this dogwood. Then you buy these squares of stuff. Suet.   It comes in different flavors. Hot pepper. Berry. Peanut Butter. The squares fit perfectly in the green thing. I didn't know this but suet is basically cow fat. It's actually grosser than it looks when you buy it. But…

…when it's cold in winter and there aren't bugs or worms to be had "fer love nor money", birds go kooky for it!  

Sparrows and most other wild birds have to eat loads of calories! They eat their weight in food everyday! People eat about three pounds worth daily. If you were a bird, you'd have to eat whatever you weigh in food! If you're 178 lbs, then that's your number! Try to eat 178 lbs of food! Then try to fly after that! Try to walk! Or sleep! It's amazing birds get anything done!

We buy C&S Peanut Delight. Made in Sioux City and sold at Home Depot. Our birds love it! And they love me, I believe!

I'm learning more than I've ever known about birds. The white-throated sparrow flies south from the Yukon or Newfoundland and stays in Rocky Top from October to mid-May. They don't even weigh an ounce and their call sounds like somebody with a real chirpy voice saying "Oh Sweet Canada Canada Canada" or maybe "Old Sam Peabody Peabody Peabody". At least that's what the books say. (I can't quite make out those words myself. But I've tried)

I love birds now! I am kinda confessing to y'all that I never was especially crazy about them before. I mean, I liked them or whatever, but it wasn't like this. It wasn't like now. Maybe it's because I started caring for them. Before ya know it, I was not only caring FOR them but caring ABOUT them! 

Maybe that's how it works. 

I don't think I HAVE to feed all those birds package after package of Peanut Delight. God has promised that He would feed them! Jesus said, " Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them..." (Matthew 6) He cares for them! Because He cares ABOUT them! But maybe…

…Maybe I feed them (and when the little green square starts to get almost peeked out, I can't NOT think about it)… maybe I care for them because He does! Maybe that's how He feeds them! Maybe He's using me! He promised to feed them so He put it in my heart to do it. Maybe a Scripture is being fulfilled in my yard! Maybe this is a bigger deal than I think! Maybe…

Maybe when you care for birds…or kids…or people who are lonely…or sick people...or old people…or someone in trouble…God is caring for them thru you! 

And maybe when, while caring FOR them, you start to care ABOUT them,  it's because God is caring about them too! He's caring about them thru you! 

Maybe it's HIS care, concern, love that YOU feel! And God's very promises from the Scripture come true…by using you!

Maybe that's how this works.

Cool!