“Do not hand over the life of your dove to wild beasts; do not forget the lives of your afflicted people forever.” Psalm 74:19

Hummingbirds

Last month I was gifted my very first hummingbird feeder. I had serious doubts that hummingbirds lived in this city. But given assurance that if I would just make the nectar, fill the feeder and hang it up outside, they would come, I did just that. The feeder is hanging off of my front porch. Sure enough, it has had several welcome hummingbird visitors.

I find hummingbirds fascinating. They are so shy that they can seem like myths, just on the outskirts of our collective consciousness, and yet they are real. You’ll see a flash of jewel-toned beauty hovering fast on the edge of peripheral vision. And then it is gone. This flash is a source of beauty we long to see, but it does not want to be seen. By hanging the feeder, I have been able to see hummingbirds for longer periods of time than I ever have before. But even then, they are quick to get the nectar and flutter away. Often a hummingbird will quickly approach the feeder, see one of my children playing outside, and decide against feeding on the nectar for which it so obviously longs.

I feel like a hummingbird myself. No matter where I go or how long I hover, there is a part of me that is always moving, moving, moving, afraid to really be seen, known, captured, hurt, or even understood.

I sense my Heavenly Father, gently drawing me out of my shyness, for there is a waiting world that is longing for the unique beauty He has placed within me. I am not meant to hoard what He has gifted me with; I am meant to live it out for people to see. I am meant to show them my source of nectar, so that they too can come and be filled with the very thing their souls crave.

I do the watching world a disservice when I hide my life away. I have been gifted with salvation, I know the Source personally, and so many people are starving and thirsting for the water only He can provide.

“… but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life” John 4:14 NIV.

So I ask: Are you using what the LORD has made beautiful in you to show the way to true nourishment, or are you shyly hiding it away in tiny spurts at a time that only hint at the truth, but don’t actually get to the Source?

Dear Father, thank You that you feed us so well. You are what our souls crave. Please help us to not be too shy to share what we have received from You. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.