My wife is not well, and we often go for a short drive in the car. Sometimes we go to a forest drive near where we live. We sit and look out on the hills and trees. It is a peaceful place and the new leaves on the trees are beautiful. Because it is quiet we can hear the songs of the small birds in the trees. Although they are small, they make quite a noise! Their songs are joyful and constant.

Birds are some of the most incredible creatures on Earth. There are more than 11,000 species, each with their own unique appearance and habits. Birds play vital roles in ecosystems and benefit us all in various ways. They are essential for maintaining biodiversity, controlling pests, pollinating plants, and dispersing seeds, all of which contribute to healthy ecosystems.

We can learn valuable lessons from birds. The Bible tells us that God created birds. In the book of Genesis, we read, “And God said, ‘Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.’ And God saw that it was good. God blessed them and said, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.’”

Jesus spoke of birds when he taught his disciples to trust God to provide all their daily needs: “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?”

Jesus also spoke of birds when he taught his disciples that their heavenly Father cared for them: “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. Even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”

The prophet Isaiah speaks of the greatness of God and the strength he gives us as we trust in him in this weary world. He said the Lord “gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not be faint.”