I didn't until today.
We have faithfully fed the critters since we moved here. The squirrels usually rob the bird seed within a couple of days but they are fun to watch.
I haven't yet started to put seed out this Fall but I threw out some old biscuits a few days ago.
That must have brought the birds in because I got up the following morning and there were birds everywhere.
And lots of Blue Jays.
I have a love hate relationship with Jays. I love to look at them; their colors are beautiful.
But they make. THE. MOST. ANNOYING. SOUND. imaginable.
All Spring we heard them screaming at predators when their babies hatched.
And finally, in late summer, they were quiet.
Now they are back.
And they are already screaming at other birds who might get their food.
Today, as I was watching them out the window, I saw them foraging under the leaves to pick up acorns.
There are lots of acorns this year, more than plenty for all the critters.
As I watched those Jays scrambling to get as much as they could and screaming at others who might get some, I thought of how I have been just like them.
I have scrambled to get something before it was gone.
I have been stingy and screamed at others when I thought they were taking what belonged to me.
I have doubted that God would provide enough.
So.
Many.
Times.
I have been just like those Jays.
That is so humbling.
And, so, just this morning, as I sat here and thought these things the cries of the Jays aren't as annoying as they were before.
I watch them and remember the assurance of the scriptures:
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 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? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Matthew 6:25-34
And I resolve that I won't let the cries of the Jays annoy me as they did.
I will try, knowing I may fail, to remember this scripture as I watch, not only the Jays but, all the creatures who feed in my back yard.
I know it is a gift to and share with so many of God's creatures.
