'... skylarks and God...'

'...for God so loved he... gave...'
John 3:16

Have you heard the birds sing recently? That might sound like an odd question, but what I’m asking you isn’t “have you heard a bird sing”, but “have you heard one sing recently?” I was playing golf, the greens were empty and silent of human voices but you should have heard the skylarks – they were deafening. I just had to pause for a moment and thank God for the amazing way he ‘gave’ such a small creature a great voice!

One day, a couple of weeks after losing my mum, I was looking out at May Hill over a card filled window sill. Like many members in our church who have gone through a loss of someone really close, I was amazed at the tangible support and encouragement that prayers had ‘given’ through a card or call or words of encouragement and support.

We have an incredibly generous God who has given us a wonderful world, not only that, he has created us in such a way that through our senses we can appreciate it. He’s ‘given’ us the gift of friendship – setting us in families and networks of people who care and love us and, on top of that, he’s given us the very special gift of his son.

I think the words of this poem by Annie Johnson Flint sum it up for me:

He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater,
He sendeth more strength when the labours increase;
To added affliction he addeth His mercy,
To multiplied trials, His multiplied peace.

When we have exhausted our store of endurance,
When our strength has failed ere the day is half done,
When we reach the end of our hoarded resources,
Our Father’s full giving is only begun.

His love has no limit, His grace has no measure;
His power no boundary known unto men;
For out of His infinite riches in Jesus
He giveth and giveth and giveth again.

I hope you’ll hear that skylark sing.