Day 13 The Starlings

Here they come. The starlings are here. They signal a season of change and movement and oh, how I love them. They gather in trees chatting like old ladies playing bingo and then just like that- they are off into the sky again. Their peppery movement across the azure blue stirs me into action. I want to capture them.

I was on the phone today with Katie when I saw them congregating in the branches of my neighbor’s oak tree. I immediately began to jump around and wave my arms while holding the camera and the phone. I am sure I was a sight. I was trying to stir them from the branches so I could capture them. It worked! Off they flew and I snapped this image. Glorious, fluid movement.

God didn’t have to give us starlings to choreograph the changing of the seasons but he did. Think on that. I believe we try to paint God into a corner sometimes, coloring him all gray and black. We think him only to be practical and efficient, without the extravagance of dance or rich color.

But look at the starlings.

I see God laughing and joining in with the dance. I see him as a happy, joyful Father who is full to the brim when we take pleasure in his good gifts. Look at the tree branches. He could have made them all straight as arrows with no sway or design. Our forests could be tufts of toothpicks pointing straight up at the sky. But no, see the grace and beauty in the movement of the branches themselves – the branches that sway in the sweeping wind- the branches that hold the dancing birds.

No, he is a God of glory and movement. He is rich with extravagant love and mercy. He delights to give us good gifts and to show us what true beauty is.

Ah, yes I am grateful for the starlings. They help us to envision the great dancing God who moves heaven and earth daily to show us his love.

Genesis 1:20 ~”And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.”