We leave our garage door open during the day. Garage? We call it that, but we use it as a shed for whatever. Step in and to the right are shelves with WD-40, wasp killer, chain saw oil, plant fertilizer, that kind of stuff. The other day Diane said, “Did you see the bird nest in the garage?” “Huh?”
On that catch-all shelf, wrens built a nest. Apparently, they make their homes in unusual places. I read on the internet that wren nests have been found in boots, cans, boxes, and even a clothespin bag hanging outside. Now every time I go into the garage, I look into the nest. Snuggled in, looking out at me are two eyes and a long beak. It’s a moment of wonder. “The trees of the Lord are watered abundantly, the cedars of Lebanon that he planted. In them the birds build their nests” (Psalm 104:16-17). “The sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altars, O Lord of hosts” (Psalm 84:3). And the wren chose our garage.
From the Greek philosophers to our own day, intellectuals have theorized about the one thing that explains everything that exists. The problem is their hifalutin explanations leave us common people unimportant. I wonder if we ministers sometimes talk about God and Jesus in such grand terms that a person might think, “Fine, but how does that help my little life?” Read the Gospels. Jesus didn’t come as a philosopher or theologian but came from our Father and still comes with personal care for you and me. “Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” (Matthew 6:26). The wren in my garage is preaching right to me.
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