THE TRUTH OF BIRDS AND BUGS

One day last summer, two of my grandchildren were here. I was watching them while their parents were at work.
During lunch, Gavin was looking out the kitchen window and yelled excitedly, "Look at that bird! It's killing and eating something"
I went and looked; there was a bird, smashing something green. Then he said, " I think it's a praying mantis!"  I hoped it wasn't. We've been seeing lots of them the last few summers, and I hated to think there was going to be one less. I looked again, and he was right; there was a bird beating a bug to death and eating it at the same time. It was a mantis.
I felt a little bit bad about it, because we enjoy seeing the mantises on the house and around the yard. But, it's the way of nature; everybody eats. Some get eaten.

The LORD often speaks to me through His creation. Do you recognize the different ways He speaks to you?

Praying mantises are so named because of their posture when they're sitting and waiting for lunch to come by. They hold their front appendages together like a person holding their hands together in prayer. They also sit this way when you happen upon them and study them, and they quite often study you right back. I think their name should be spelled "preying"mantis, because that's what they really do.

I had been watching some videos by Jennifer Eivaz, a well known Christian speaker and author. She and her husband pastor a church in California, and she had just taught on the praying mantis, and how it represents a praying prophet. It's a strong reminder to pray when we see one of these insects on our front door or screens or plants, and that we can prophesy when we are praying instead of only petitioning Him for things. You can watch her on YouTube if you're interested.  She quoted Job12:7 which says, "Just ask the animals and they will teach you, ask the birds of the sky and they will tell you." I love this, because I actually do talk to the animals that show up in my yard, and I talk to the birds at the feeders and in the trees. So I asked the LORD what he had to say about what I had just seen. And He stopped by and said,

             "THE ENEMY CANNOT KILL YOUR PRAYERS,
                         BUT HE CAN KILL YOUR PRAYER LIFE"

WOW!!! That hit the mark perfectly. It spoke volumes to me about prayers that have been prayed and have yet to be answered. It also spoke volumes regarding whether I pray or not. If I agree with the voice of the enemy, and stop praying because he tells me my prayers are weak, or that I'm wasting my time, it's never gonna happen, I pray wrongly, everyone else prays better, etc. and so on, then he CAN kill my prayer life. And if you listen to that nonsense, he can kill yours too.

So today, if you're reading this, and you have listened and agreed with the father of lies, come OUT of agreement with the voice of the accuser, and get your prayer back on! You can do it, and God is on your side, just like He's on mine.

Blessings to you, and I hope your spirit is renewed today by the One who loves you best of all.

MORTIMER: a children's story

In a little town, on a hill far away, there lived a family of birds. They were all, every one of them,  a lovely shade of blue, with big, green eyes. And they were happy. One day, the mommy bird knew, just knew, that she wanted just one more baby bird. She knew, just knew, thet her family wouldn't be complete without just one more baby. So she started to build her nest just a little bit bigger. The family began to get excited when they saw her working hard to get ready for the new baby, and they all, every one of them, wanted to help.
All the little bird brothers and sisters were flapping around and asking, "What can I do? What can I do? I want to help." So the mommy bird gave each one, every little one of them, their very own job to do.
One  brother helped to gather sticks for the nest. One sister helped by shaking out the blankets for the new baby. Another gathered leaves to line the nest, and another gathered soft dandelion seeds to place on top of the leaves to make the nest even softer. And when all, every little thing, was done, it was time to lay the egg for the new baby bird.
It had been a busy, very busy day for the family, so after the daddy bird came home with dinner, they all ate together and then the little birds went to bed. The mommy bird settled into the new, soft nest and waited for her baby egg. The daddy bird flew back and forth and back and forth, and watched over his family. And he waited, just waited for the new egg.
The next morning the new egg was there! Everybirdy was so excited! But they had to wait a little bit longer for the baby to hatch. The mommy bird sat on the egg, and when she was tired or needed to eat, the daddy bird took a turn to sit on the egg and keep it warm. After a few days, they began to hear sounds coming from the egg, and they knew, just knew, that it was time for the baby to hatch. How wonderful! This day was going to be the baby's Hatchday!
Before too long, the egg cracked. It cracked and cracked some more, and the little bird inside began to stretch itself and push itself, and suddenly, out popped a little bird with RED feathers and GREY eyes!
OH MY GOODNESS! That family was so surprised! There had NEVER before been a red bird with grey eyes in their family.....what would they do? How would they take care of this different baby? What would everybirdy in the town think?
"Well", said the mommy bird, "This is our baby, and we'll love him and learn about him, and it doesn't really matter what everybirdy in town thinks. He's our baby, and we love him just the way he is." But in her heart, she was very sad that her baby was different. She was afraid that other birds wouldn't like him, and that he wouldn't have any friends.
Mortimer, however, didn't know that his family was worried about him.He didn't know he was different. He just knew he was hungry. So he peeped and he cheeped, and the mommy bird was kept very busy feeding him and taking care of him. Before long, he was jumping out of the nest. The mommy bird kept putting him back in the nest to keep him warm and safe, but he would jump out of the nest again. She was getting tired. Finally, she couldn't keep him in the nest any longer, and it was time to teach him to find worms and bugs for himself. So she took him outside.

Mortimer was so happy to be outside! What a big wonderful world it was! There was so much to see and so much to do! He flipped and flapped his wings and ran around and around trying to see and touch all the flowers and bugs and grass and ...other birds. Other birds? Yes, the other birds came over to see this new bird with RED feathers and GREY eyes. And some of them were not very nice. They STARED at Mortimer. They POINTED at Mortimer. They whispered to each other about Mortimer. And they flew away. Mortimer didn't understand this. He wanted, really wanted, to get to know the other birds. He was very sad. His mommy bird was sad. His brothers and sisters and daddy were sad too. BUT.... there was one bird that didn't STARE. She didn't POINT. She didn't whisper to anybirdy. And she didn't fly away. She flew right up to Mortimer and said "HI!"  Mortimer said "HI!" right back to her. She said, "I never saw RED feathers before. I think you're beautiful!" Mortimer smiled. His mommy smiled. His daddy and brothers and sisters smiled.
It was turning out to be a good, a very good day.
The moral of the story is "When everybirdy else is afraid, you don't have to be. It only takes one  to make a difference for somebirdy else."