Matthew 6:26-27 “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? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?”

Maybe being a “bird-brain” should be a compliment instead of an insult. Just look at us. The barns in which we store away our collected wealth may be banks, and stocks, and mutual funds. We may own real estate and have a pension coming. And if all that fails we live in a country with government programs that cover almost all the necessities of life. But instead of being thankful for how richly God has provided, we worry about whether or not it’s going to last. We even worry about whether or not Social Security is going to survive.

Birds are very busy animals, but they don’t know ahead of time where they will find their next meal. They simply rely on God’s creation. They merrily sing as they go about their work of finding food and building nests and from all appearances they do this without a worry or a care in the world.

Now we are the crown of God’s creation. We are the ones made for a special relationship with God. We are the ones blessed with intelligence. Everything was made to serve us, including these very birds, some of which are little more than window-dressing on all that God has made.

Martin Luther once pointed out that these little animals act as though they are better theologians than we are. They become our teachers. Jesus asks, “Are you not much more valuable than they?” Did God give his Son to redeem the birds? Did he drive the whole course of world history to save them? Did God make them the caretakers of all that he has made? Does he call them his children? We all know the answers. If we are so much more valuable than these creatures, can we not trust that he will provide for us at least as well as he does for them?