READ | Matthew 6:25-26
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at 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 much more valuable than they?
CONSIDER
Consider what it must feel like not to worry, especially about the basics of life, or anything else that concerns your welfare. This is also to ask what it must feel like to trust God so much that there is no room for doubt or fear, or anything else that would tempt us to take our eyes off of Jesus. The Holy Spirit is the indwelling person of God who actually can move our faith, hope and love so deeply that we can trust God with everything. There is nothing impossible for God, even providing bread from heaven (manna) if there is nothing for to eat.
ASK
Ask the God who loves you more that you can imagine to grant you a gift of faith that leads to trust. Then, the next time you are tempted with thoughts like “How am I going to make it?” you will be prepared to say to those thoughts: “I know that my Redeemer lives and I know that He cares for me, even in this issue. Father, help me do my best to trust You in everything.”
PARENT NOTE
Here’s something you can talk about and do with your child today. Our reading mentions that our Father God cares for the “birds of the air.” Just like you, birds love a treat in addition to their regular food. Create a pine cone bird-feeder to hang from a tree limb in your backyard.
You need to gather a cone, smooth peanut butter, a spoon, 15-inch piece of yarn, string or fishing line, and a bag of birdseed.
- Lay out some tin foil or newspaper on your table (best if done outside).
- Pour about 1 cup of the birdseed onto the foil or newspaper.
- Pick up your spoon and dip some peanut butter out onto the foil or paper near the seed pile.
- Carefully roll your pine cone into the peanut butter, coating all sides.
- Then, roll the coated pine cone over your bird seed pile.
Get a parent to tie the string around the pine cone and help you hang it where you can watch the birds enjoying the treat you made for them and remind yourself how much more important your life is to God than these birds Father God provides for daily. He’ll do the same for You!
Contributed by Bob Garrett, Spiritual Director
Parent Note by Danielle Short