Birds & other beautiful things.

The people that are closest to me know that I have a thing with birds. I love them. They're so beautiful to me. That's one of my favorite things about the beach, is the birds that fly around & hang out on the beach, I always come back with tons of pictures of them. My friends have made fun of me before because I'm always pointing out birds that I think are pretty, but really, I just love them. I love how many different types of birds there are, & their different colors, & how much they vary from species to species. It's one of those things about God's creation that just amazes me. And they're such a reminder of God's provision. In Matthew 6:26 it says "Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or stow away in barns, & yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not more valuable than they?" The Lord cares enough for the birds that He created & He provides for them unfailingly. And He loved me enough to send His son to die on the cross, so of course He'll provide for me too. I just love that reminder.
But anyway, back to where I was going with this, I was sitting on my front porch watching my dog play, & a beautiful cardinal flew over to a tree in our front yard. I got to admire it for a few minutes until Asher spotted it & decided to chase it away. But I just loved getting to see it, even for just a short minute, because beautiful things like that just remind me of how amazing God is. He created this whole earth for us to enjoy. Even though we've messed it up in many, many, many ways, He still loves us & allows us to enjoy His creation, & I love how it just draws my mind back to how amazing God is when I see things like that. Especially when you focus on looking for ways to spot God throughout your day, the world becomes so much more beautiful. Every beautiful part of this earth is just a reminder of God's love for us & His grace, that even though I mess up daily, & some days I feel like I can't do anything right, God still loves me. And He reminds me of that in countless ways, whether it's encouragement from a friend, a beautiful sunset, sweet words from a little kid, or even a pretty bird.

We serve an amazing God, & I'm so thankful to be His.