Sunday Evening Meditation

Psalm 25:1-5

1 To You, O Lord, I lift up my soul.

2 O my God, I trust in You;

Let me not be ashamed;

Let not my enemies triumph over me.

3 Indeed, let no one who waits on You be ashamed;

Let those be ashamed who deal treacherously without cause.

4 "Show me Your ways, O Lord;

Teach me Your paths.

5 Lead me in Your truth and teach me,

For You are the God of my salvation;

On You I wait all the day."

I thought you'd enjoy seeing that we not only have Bluebirds here on Still Waters Pond, but we also have "red-birds", a.k.a. the Northern Cardinal, and in this case, the male Cardinal. His mate is around there somewhere, but she didn't make it into the pictures.  This male just seemed to be waiting and watching and perhaps listening for God's instructions. "On You I wait all the day."  A good lesson for us today from God's Word.  Be patient and wait on the Lord for instruction...follow God's leading and teachings and you will not go astray!

Last evening I thought I would outsmart the Sand Hill Crane couple and go way around the shore of Still Waters Pond to where I could see their nesting place and wait for them to land for the evening.  They usually fly in around sunset and land on this little scrap of marshy floating island, (see below) where they will spend the night and also where they are building their nest for this spring.  

As I stood on the shore...this close to the water's edge! Yes, if I lost my balance I would be in that water!...

I looked around and across to where our house is and our shoreline, and what do I see?  Mr. and Mrs. Sand Hill Crane had landed on our shoreline, and they were enjoying taking their time and finding things to eat in the weeds along the shore!

So I stood there on the other side (I zoomed in for these pictures) and waited patiently for them to get tired of eating there and fly on over to their nest...

They seemed to be enjoying a leisurely stroll along the shore, and they were in no hurry at all to get back to their nest!

Meanwhile, I'm standing over there waiting and it's getting kind of chilly...I had run out of the house without a sweater thinking it was still warm out since it had been quite warm during the afternoon...

But no, they were in no hurry.  I took these next pictures with my cell phone, so I couldn't zoom in as well, but I liked the way the sunlight was changing the colors as it was setting in the west beside me.

I almost think they knew I was over there watching them, and therefore they weren't going to fly over that way as long as a strange human with a camera was there waiting for them!

Finally I gave up and decided to head back to the house before it got dark.

I didn't take another picture, but when I got back around to the house to go in the back door, they saw me and came right up on the shore into our yard and waited for me to go inside and get them some birdseed! Yes! That's what they were waiting for, the stinkers! LOL.  So I threw them out some seed and they were very grateful and stayed there and ate it until it was too dark for me to even think about going back outside to see where they would go next. Besides, it wouldn't have shown up in a photo anyway!  But perhaps I did what I was supposed to do.

Psalm 145:14-19

14 "The Lord upholds all who fall,

And raises up all who are bowed down.

15 The eyes of all look expectantly to You,

And You give them their food in due season.

16 You open Your hand

And satisfy the desire of every living thing.

17 The Lord is righteous in all His ways,

Gracious in all His works.

18 The Lord is near to all who call upon Him,

To all who call upon Him in truth.

19 He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him;

He also will hear their cry and save them."

No, I am not trying to say that I am taking the place of God for these birds. But perhaps I am doing what God wants me to do for them.  Perhaps I am His ambassador here for these creatures of His creation. Or maybe it is simply an example to us of how God cares for us.  When we fall down or are feeling sad or blue or in a difficult situation, we can rely on God to provide for us.  "The Lord is near to all who call upon Him...and He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him; He also will hear their cry and save them."    If God provides food for the creatures of the earth, how much more will He provide for us, His beloved children who are calling upon Him in truth, and who are looking expectantly to Him for help in time of need?  Yes, as surely as we take care of our own, even sometimes in exasperation because our own don't always perform the way we want them to...yet because of love we take care of them...God also cares for us, even when we don't always perform the way He wants us to...because He loves us.   He will "hear their cry and save them."   Amen!

Now just for laughs as I close this out for the night, this afternoon I looked out the window here in my "Room with a View", and saw "Blackie" the neighborhood cat sitting on a little container on the back porch that has an old rug on top of it...just sitting there giving himself a bath and then relaxing and looking around like he owned the place.

I had to chuckle, because everytime I look out on the porch, Blackie has chosen a different place to sit! We have three wicker chairs, and he goes from one to the next and back again, depending upon his mood I guess. I told my hubby he reminds me of Goldilocks, trying out each chair and then the "bed" to find the one that is "just right".  

And speaking of beds that are just right...I guess it's time to say good night!

Isaiah 26:3  NKJV

3 You will keep him in perfect peace,

Whose mind is stayed on You,

Because he trusts in You.