The Wonder of Birds

  

Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Matthew 6:26,33 KJV

A bluebird clung to the very tip of a greening maple tree. Stretching his neck, he sang a sweet trill as he fanned his blue tail feathers. 

A pee-wee sat on the fence, wagging its tail up and down, seeming to balance, then darted off to dance with a bug before snatching it in mid-air.

A wren darted among the awnings, fussing over nothing, its tail pointing upward until it began the fuss, and then with every sound, its tail flapped down like a paddle. 

Each bird is different from the other, yet all are a part of the bird family. Each doing a job, attracting a mate, building homes, and feeding upon God's provision. Each one fulfilling its purpose, while we seem to wander aimlessly in search of we know not what. The birds are not laying up treasures or seeking out fame, but rather raising up another generation to praise God's name each morning and quietly chirp in thankfulness each night.

Father God, help me trust your loving care for each day and seek your kingdom above all. In Jesus name. Amen

Hey Kids:

Has God shown you a purpose for your life? 

What talents do you have? Are you working to improve those talents for the Lord?

What are you noticing from God's creation? Does the behavior of the animals and plants help you see God's purpose for them? 

This week, try making a chart of the different birds you see returning to or passing through your area. What are you observing?

•  Are they searching for nesting places? What's in their beaks? 
• Are they in flocks, resting and scrounging for food before traveling on? 
• Are they going through courtship rituals? You may see a male cardinal feeding his female.

Keeping records of the migration and feeding habits of birds and other animals in your area is one way of learning to record and read statistics (math skills) or for little ones, it's simply learning to count, add, and record. 

Learning can be fun and interesting. 

Older kids may want to try drawing the birds and researching wing patterns and how they help birds fly. 

For more ideas on homeschooling with the birds, http://wonderfilleddays.com is my go-to resource. 

Never Too Little to Love

 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; I Corinthians 13:4 NKJV

Go figure, a little mouse and a very tall giraffe can teach us so many things. In Never Too Little to Love a little mouse loves a giraffe and wants to give the giraffe a kiss, but he's too small. He doesn't call up to her. He tries to reach her on his own. He tries to make himself tall enough stacking all kinds of things on top of one another to reach her until it all comes crashing down. That's when the giraffe reaches down and kisses him. 

Sound familiar? Here we are trying to prove to God that we love him by saying we are a good person. We deserve His love. We give money. We try to be kind to other people. We go to church and put in our time until our world comes crashing down. When we realize it's not us who can figure it all out, but only Jesus who reaches down with His love that can change our lives. 

Such a short little children's book. It probably wasn't written with that intent, but it can carry a big message for all of us. 

There's another blessing this little book can offer to parents and children. I see so many moms online frantically looking for homeschool curriculum for their preschoolers. I want to say, 

"Mama Chill!" 

With this one little picture book and others like them you have all the preschool curriculum you need without spending useless dollars on worksheets that make your child hate learning. Let's see what this book can do for your preschooler.

• Humorous, engaging text (it's funny, love reading)
• Large text (little eyes can see the words)
• Letter sounds (depending on the age of the child, 4 or 5, or 6 or 7)
• Demonstrates sequencing small to large (it's also engineering)
• Counting (counts the things as they are stacked)
• Opposites (small/tall, little/big)
• Genders (boy loves girl)
• P.S. this book is at libraries, Amazon and Thriftbook.com

Let's let our children be little, teaching them that Jesus loves them and learning can and should be a fun and loving experience. 

Lord Jesus, help us take a deep breath and gently lead our children to you. Help us not to build our own towers but let you show us your way. In your name we pray. Amen

The Rocks Cry Out

 

 But He answered and said to them, “I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out.” ~Luke19:40 (NKJV)

There are hearts all around us, in the stores, in classrooms, magazines, everywhere I look I see hearts. Love is in the air with Valentine's Day upon us. Jesus tells us to "love one another." February is a good time to check up and see if we truly love; love like Jesus loved. In Luke the people were praising Jesus as he entered the city of Jerusalem, just a few days later he would be crucified. The people seemed to love him, but in a few days they would cry out, "crucify him."

What is love? Is it a feeling, a temporary emotion, or is it something that endures? The people were praising Jesus because they thought he would overthrow the Romans. Their love, for the most part, was temporary. But true love is lasting, deep, even unto death. 

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. ~John 15:13(KJV)

When the Pharisees told Jesus to make the people stop praising, Jesus answered that if they didn't praise him, the stones would immediately cry out. God's creation praises him even if and when we don't. The picture of the heart stones is from If Rocks Could Sing a discovered alphabet by Leslie McGuirk. Rocks, stones all sizes demonstrating love. Their size doesn't matter. The place they were found doesn't matter. They all say love just by the way they are shaped. They cry out love. Their shape will stay the same as long as the world stands unless they are broken in some way. Jesus's heart was broken when he sweated great drops of blood as he prayed in the garden. His heart was broken when he hung on the cross, dying for our sins. But his love for us remains the same. There is no greater love than Jesus's love for us. He gave his life that we may have eternal life. 

Many of us say we love Jesus. Is it temporary like the crowd on Palm Sunday or has he worked a love in our hearts that is eternal? Have we allowed Him to give us the gift of eternal life or are we still trying to work for our salvation? The thief on the cross next to Jesus couldn't do good works and neither can we. Like the thief on the cross, we have to cry out to Jesus in repentance of our sins. You can cry out today. My prayer today is just an example of what you may want to tell Jesus.

Dear Lord Jesus, I have sinned.  Thank you for loving me and dying for me. Please forgive me and save me. Thank you for your gift of salvation.  In Your name, I pray. Amen. 

Hey Kids: 

Do you like to collect rocks? What can you do with a pocket full of rocks? In Leslie McGuirk's book If Rocks Could Sing, she collects rocks that look like letters and then adds other rocks that look like things the letters could stand for — like V is for Valentine, E is for Elephant, and my favorite J is for Joy and she has little rocks that look like happy fish. They remind me of Nemo. 

Other books about rocks that you might enjoy are by Patti Rokus. She uses rocks to tell Bible stories. One is A Savior is Born: Rocks Tell the Story of Christmas. The other is He is Risen: Rocks Tell the Story of Easter.  My grandchildren loved collecting and retelling the stories with their own rocks after reading these books. 

Isn't it amazing how even the rocks praise our Lord and Savior?