11/06/2019
I love the birds probably thanks to my parents who always loved birds and fed them. I have followed suit most of my adult life. I have a feeder filled with sunflower seeds, one with thistle, one with mixed seed and of course with the sweet water in the summer that draws the hummingbirds into my yard.
I always knew that all this food brought to my yard lots of activity and enjoyment ofwatching the bird’s behaviors, but did not realize how much until I decided to stop feeding them before the cold weather arrived this year. I have never done this before but thought that since I would be away much of January, I did not want them to suddenly lose their source of food in the dead of winter.
I look out my window today, and it is eerily silent. Not even a single bird has come to roost anywhere in my yard. My dog, Ava, does not even bother to look out the window where she normally gazes for long periods of time. It is this same silence that sometimes happens in our lives when we lose someone significant in our lives. It seems so different, so empty. Something is truly missing.
This same sense of silence and emptiness is true when we lose a loved one. This past Sunday, we remembered our loved ones that we lost this last year as we celebrated All Saints Sunday. I hope that though we may mourn the loss of loved ones that we can know that God has provided the way forward for those who have gone to be with him, as well as for us who survive. There is hope if we will just open our hearts and minds to realize it. God receives those who have died but God is a God of the living. Turn an empty, lonely, sad heart to Him and the Holy Spirit will pick you up and feed you with exactly what your heart needs.
I know without certainty that come spring, I am going to fill my feeders again and am going to enjoy seeing the arrival of new families of birds milling about, singing, fussing with one another and resting in my yard.
Pastor Patti Napier
Archived Posts
Key Takeaway from Sunday
If I had to identify a specific take away from
Sunday’s sermon it would probably be this:
The Rest of the Story
I mentioned Russell Conwell in Sunday’s message. He was a famous preacher, educator, and lecturer. His sermon/lecture “Acres of Diamonds” was turned into a book and sold rather well. I used Conwell’s illustrations to talk about sharing the good news of Jesus with those closest to us first—family, friends, coworkers, and church family. The wider world is our ultimate aim, but until you invest in the people God has already put in your life, you are unlikely to have much success.
No One Said It Would be Easy
To love Jesus first is to learn to love all the other people in our lives with greater intensity and less selfishness
What’s Saved Is Often Lost
Here’s the benediction we didn’t have time for yesterday (Sunday, November 3). It’s one of my favorite quotations (portions of a newspaper column). I hope you find it as inspiring as I have
Leftovers Continued…
It’s not just the fact that God is un-impressed by our leftovers, it actually goes deeper than that. In a sense, Jesus is passionately and purposely opposed to anything leftover. To be a follower of Jesus Christ is to work diligently to make sure that in the end nothing at all is left over.
Less Stuff and Fewer Wants
Here’s a point I left off Sunday’s sermon due to time and length. In dealing with an Entitled mindset it is very helpful if you can Reduce Materialism and Consumerism.
Entitlement Can Hit You in Ways You Might Never Suspect
The people of God (Israel) were chosen by God to fulfill a unique calling—to be a light to all the other nations of the nations of the world. God chose them because of their willingness to be used by Him for His purposes. But after a while the Israelites began to think that they were chosen--not because with God they could fulfill a special purpose--but because they were a special people, uniquely favored and loved for who they were.