More Than A Happy Accident
Emilee Danielson
Shelter From The Storm.
It’s Friday and most of the town is shut down. Another Midwest blizzard brings things to a grinding halt. But sometimes it’s those beloved long-anticipated snow days, when we are hunkered down with hot drinks and fuzzy throws, that spark within us some introspection and inspiration. These are times when our thoughts and dreams can really come to life. Today is no different. This cold wintery day would give me another little glimpse into how God works.
I am an animal lover so it is no surprise that we have pets. Alfonzo and Ruby are big dogs that need a fenced-in back yard. I am also an avid ornithophile. Bird houses, bird feeders, bird baths - I have them all. Due to there being only so many hours in a day, they remain buried deep in unpacked boxes stored in the garage…or the basement…or maybe the shed (I don’t really know anymore). They wait patiently for me to wake them up and bring them out of their long hibernation.
We moved to Iowa almost 2 years ago. When we first moved in, we hoped the old chain link fence around the perimeter of the back yard would suffice to keep our exceedingly curious labs contained. I was also anxious to start gardening and tempting the butterflies and birds into my yard with feeders and baths. I did get my garden in, but my bird feeders remain packed away to this day. For now my neighbor’s feeders would have to suffice to give me my wildlife fix from a distance.
About 3 months into life in Iowa our confidence in the chain link fence also failed. At precisely 5:45 a.m. our black lab Ruby got a visual on a family of skunks in the neighbor’s yard. They were harmlessly minding their own business, but Ruby felt the situation needed her direct intervention. She easily cleared the fence and had an intensely smelly altercation outside my poor neighbors house. That was it! We had to make sure that never happened again so we quickly made plans for a taller privacy fence to go up in it’s place.
Now my neighbor’s view of the beautiful landscape is admittedly hindered, and my enjoyment of the neighbor’s daily fowl-feeding frenzies are all but gone. While the wildlife displays have greatly diminished since the fence went up, on occasion a few birds will make their way over the fence and to my garden.
But I digress. It’s Friday afternoon in the middle of a blizzard with freezing temps, brutal winds, and virtual white outs. Everything is shut down. But a sudden flutter of activity catches my attention through the kitchen window. And what to my wondering eyes should appear? But a dormant shrub, made leafless months ago, now heavy laden with a colony of fat little birds. They had found our privacy fence to be sufficient protection from the blustery northern winds. And apparently they told ALL their friends. I counted approximately 19 birds though accuracy can be a bit challenging as they hop about the branches.
I grabbed my phone, snapped a pic and hurried to share the adorable creatures with my friends on social media. A happy little moment in the middle of what most would consider a miserable day. After about 15 to 20 minutes of scrolling, I went back to the window. The numbers had dramatically increased! To my surprise and best estimate there were now about 40 birds amongst the branches.
As I paused to simply enjoy the view, my mind slowly processing the situation, I added up the past events which lead to this exact moment. The dog situation that led to putting up the privacy fence gave these little guys some shelter from the storm. My neighbor’s shared love for wildlife led to the birds having a very reliable food source. It was a bit striking how the here and now was a result of decisions made over the course of many years. The decision to be dog owners. The decision to move to Iowa. The decision to buy this particular home with these particular neighbors. The decision to put up a privacy fence. The culmination of all the decisions made between us and our neighbors resulted in an abundance of food on one side of the fence and shelter from the storm on the other.
“Consider 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 more valuable than they?”
When I stop for moments of reflection, my mind usually gravitates toward the scriptures. “Consider the birds of the air”, popped into my mind. So I did just that, I considered them. “They do not reap or sow, yet your Father in heaven feeds them”. The birds did not fill the feeders. They did not build the fence. They did not get an advisory notification of the coming storm on their phones. They had no prior confab as to where and when to all meet up. Yet there, right in front of me, between us and our neighbors, God provided for these little creatures in some of the harshest conditions we’ve seen here in Iowa.
But the passage doesn’t end there. It goes on to ask us a question, “Are you not more valuable than they?”. As I sit in my warm house enjoying the company of a loving husband, drinking a warm chai tea, able to set all work aside for a day, I am compelled to acknowledge that indeed God must see me as more valuable. Or why would He take such care in providing for me so far above and beyond that of the little birds outside?
“And which you by being anxious can add one cubit to his span of life?”
I love how God often sets us up. The statements in verse 26 make the answer to the question in verse 27 a complete no-brainer. “And which of you by being anxious can add one cubit to his span of life?” It’s stated so powerfully that the answer need not even be said out loud. Like a bird that finds a safe haven from the storm, the answer settles so warm and comfortably in our heart it need not be questioned nor debated. It’s settled. Worry and anxiety over the storms of life help no one and nothing.
It is certain that more storms will come. Some we realize we do not need to fret over. Others so brutal we do not know how to make it through. But remember the birds. The food they did not prepare and the fence they did not build. These are not just happy accidents. No, they are so much more than just happenstance. Just as the Lord provides shelter for the birds long before the winds began to blow, you too will find that God has foreseen your every need and prepares a shelter for you. The storm will eventually pass. And God’s own hand of providence will be made known to those who seek the kingdom of God.
The Reason for the New Fence: Alfonzo & Ruby