If It’s Good Enough For the Birds . . .

I’ve been thinking a lot about birds this past week. Because of the whole I-want-to-live-out-Matthew-6-this-year thing. Trying to notice the way they survive. How they fly and land and just be.

Careless in the care of God.

I wanted to consider birds like robins or cardinals or woodpeckers or goldfinches. You know, the pretty kinds that don’t really annoy people. But, I live in the middle of a European city, and it’s the middle of winter where the only birds I can find to observe are pigeons.

So Saturday when I saw a bunch of them lining the rooftop of the Altes Schloss in the middle of town as I walked home from my photography class, I had to take their picture.

Just perched up there waiting for whatever it is birds wait for. Some of them would fly down to the ground  in search of crumbs or trash. But mostly they just sat there looking over the city.

Nowhere to go, I imagine. Nowhere except anywhere. And that is what I find so amazing about pigeons.

They’ll go where the food is, without worrying about where they might find the next crumb. They have this innate calm that just knows their Maker’s gonna’ provide enough. A trust that enables them to gather on a rooftop on a sunny Saturday afternoon and hang out with a bunch of other birds.

I consider this about pigeons, and I think I’d like to try it. To just know that my Maker cares enough about me to provide for every next moment. To be where I am, not worrying about where I need to go next. Or about where I will find my next piece of sustenance to get me through whatever awaits me around the bend.

To hang out on rooftops all bold and waiting for whatever food He shows me. And then to fly down and grab it just as soon as I see it. Not a moment too soon. Not an instant too late.

So, I guess Matthew 6 living means thinking like a bird? Does that mean I’m gonna’ have bird brains by 2014?