Children of Zion, rejoice and be glad in the LORD your God, because He gives you the autumn rain for your vindication. He sends showers for you, both autumn and spring rain as before.
Joel 2:23 (CSB)

In the November of 2021, I noticed my first waterfowl. I’d seen thousands before, of course, but this was the time I truly considered one.
The egret was alone, gracefully wading through the creek beneath a small bridge we traversed almost daily. Yet, I’d never seen her.

Intrigued, I doubled-back to return to the creek and pulled over. Just as I put down my window – phone at the ready – she took flight. I snapped a photo anyway, wanting to remember the moment. As I write this, I’m reliving it all over again.

Graceful steps. So delicate the water barely ripples. She cranes her long white neck and tastes the reeds with her black bill. Sleek feathers trail down her back, wisps of white barely touch the surface. Beauty and tranquility wash over me as I watch. I circle, wanting a closer look, to capture evidence of her. But my bracing for the photograph sends her into flight. Woosh. Woosh. She flies. And just like the search for her identity… crane, heron, egret… the photograph is blurred.

It was a beautiful moment that has stuck with me. But the catch was, I had to return. I had to pause and take time out of my day to focus. And for this one time, I did. But how many of these divinely orchestrated moments do we so often miss?

How many times do we miss the God moments in our days? The invitation to go on an adventure with Jesus? To notice the beauty of Creation? To respond to His goodness and write what He places on our hearts so we can share it with others?

Sometimes I become blind to these moments. Blind by discontentment and a scarcity mindset. I fear I don’t have enough time to slow down, to enjoy the moment, to Selah and rest in His presence.

You too?

But whether the commodity is finance, time, energy, inspiration, or something else entirely, we are invited to consider the birds.

To look up.

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?
Matthew 6:26 (NIV)

God will provide. He will. He does. After all, He is the God of abundantly more.

Lacking inspiration? He will provide. Lacking time? He will provide. Lacking energy? He will provide.

But we need to return.

Like an egret returns from migration, so we must return again and again. Return to our Source of joy. Return home. Return to God’s Presence and not forget to look up. Because in His perfect timing, God will provide. Just as He is providing this writer with unexpected words and a fresh love for storytelling, so He will bring rain for our weary souls when we feel dry and in the wilderness.

He will provide.

We need only return.

Even storks know when it’s time to return. Mourning doves, swallows, and cranes know when it’s time to migrate. But my people don’t know that I, the LORD, am urging them to return.

Jeremiah 8:7 (GW)