Did you know February is designated as Bird Feeding Month? Because of reduced vegetation and lack of insects during the cold winter months, our little feathered friends have a hard time finding enough food and water to sustain them. One of the things I enjoy most watching birds in my backyard. I take time to keep the birdfeeders and suet cages filled too and provided fresh water for the birds to drink and bath in. This activity has afforded me hours of pleasure. I can even watch birds from the window near my desk where I write. In fact, there’s a little downy woodpecker right now helping himself to some suet and a nuthatch bobbing up and down the trunk of the old cottonwood.
A recent article in Birds and Blooms magazine provided a list of benefits that you can enjoy by becoming a regular birdwatcher. The article contends that this activity will improve your mood, and if you spend time outside watching birds, you will actually increase your Vitamin D intake, which in turn helps to alleviate anxiety and depression.
Some years ago, a friend gave me an unusual devotional book—but one perfect for a bird lover like me. Author John Stott, in his book The Birds, Our Teachers, shares “biblical lessons from a lifelong bird-watcher.” The book contains more than 150 color photographs taken by the author himself, as well as many thought-provoking lessons regarding faith, joy, love, and self-esteem. Using Bible texts from both the Old and New Testaments, Stott contends that we can learn a lot about our Creator simply by becoming familiar with birds and their habits. He jokingly refers to his observations as “orni-theology.”
Why not take a 15-minute break to watch the birds today? And as you do so, remember the words of Jesus as recorded in the Gospel of Matthew 6:26: “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?”
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I'm Waiting Devotional by Laura Hodges Poole. Winner announced in the
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I'm Waiting Devotional by Laura Hodges Poole. Winner announced in the
Weekly Windup on the 29th. Check out all of our great prizes on the
Prizes Galore page
We feed the birds every morning. They're relaxing to watch and just plain fun. And this time of year, we see more of a variety. As spring approaches, we'll have all sorts of beautiful feathered friends to watch!
ReplyDeleteJust had four inches of fresh snow up here in the mountains and my backyard is alive with birds. Time to put out more bird seed! :)
DeleteIt is great to feed and watch birds. We now have Canadian geese that raise their young at our place. Priceless!!!
ReplyDeleteNot too many birds here. We do have pigeons nesting on our roof...you can hear them, but not see them. LOL
ReplyDeleteI enjoy watching the birds and I am always excited to see the first robin, a promise of Spring!
ReplyDelete"While I'm Waiting" devotional is a book that my niece and her husband need now. They are "waiting" for a baby and have been for awhile. As I told her,it is all in God's timing. The baby they get will be the one that God chose just for them.
ReplyDeleteJanet E.
von1janet(at)gmail(dot)com