“Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?” — Matthew 6:26

Thankful for Little Things

The professional hockey team in Atlanta is named for the state bird, the Brown Thrasher. When people hear birds singing at the tops of trees, we might be hearing some Brown Thrashers chirping in harmony. These feathered friends are comfortable in bushes at the edge of the woods. God designed them with a long slender bill, which is handy for digging up insects out of the ground. They like to eat beetles, caterpillars, grasshoppers, spiders, lizards and frogs.

Birds don’t worry about the direction of the wind, the temperature or other changing conditions in the world. The Brown Thrashers sing every morning and every evening, in sunshine and rain, and in pleasure or pain. They raise up baby birds and teach them to fly and gather food for themselves. Their life is simple; they don’t get their feathers ruffled about things beyond their control.

Jesus said we learn a lot about enjoying happiness during holidays and on regular days by watching the birds as they calmly go about their business. “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?” (Matthew 6:25-26).

On this Thanksgiving Day, we might have a full house or we may have several empty chairs, but God wants us to count our blessings and not worry about what we don’t have. Some holidays are filled with celebration, and other times we struggle because we miss someone. Remember these words of Jesus at all times: “I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

— Bill Kent, Pastor of Memorial Baptist Church, Sylvania, Ga.