Ordinary Miracles

 A few days ago I saw something I have typically taken for granted because I've seen it so many times over the close to 30 years I've lived in this area:  geese flying on a V-formation across the sky.  This is a sight I never saw in Panama.  We get hundreds of migratory birds in the tropics...but Canada Goose are not one of them.  They tend to stick around the northern hemisphere.

Anyway, by now, I've gotten used to their iconic flight...no big deal...the other day, though, I was taking Link for his much needed outside time, and, as soon as I heard the familiar honking above my head, I thought:  I wonder if it is really true that they rotate? Experts say that the bird that flies at the tip of the V and at the front rotate in a timely cyclical fashion to spread flight fatigue equally among the flock members.  I remember thinking how amazing that was.  But, I had never seen it...so often wondered...that day, I looked up...and...yes, I saw it!  I saw the marvelous proof of navigation design.  I saw the bird at the end of the right leg move all the way to the tip as the other birds on the front also switched to then fall into perfect line to continue their V-shaped flight pattern uninterruptedly.    

I was left stunned.

I know, it doesn't sound like a big deal.  But, to me it was.  It was a big deal because I realized, I had witnessed one of God's miracles!

Do you know that scholars still can't understand 100% how migratory birds do what they do?  Details like, how is it that birds know where to go are still not totally clear to scientists.  They could have asked Christians.  We would have told them:  God created them to do that, and He directs their path through the incredible navigation system He built into their bodies!

For, we know that, on the fifth day...

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

And we also know that, God not only created and designed the birds to fly across the sky, but that He also knows them...

for every animal of the forest is mine,

and the cattle on a thousand hills. 

I know every bird in the mountains,

and the insects in the fields are mine. Psalm 50: 10-11

The most amazing part of it all is, that, these facts point to a magnificent truth, that I need to remember every single day: if He has taken such care in the intricate design of birds...how much more does He not care about us, His Children, whom He created in His very image?

That is the core of the miracle of the V-formation flight pattern of migratory birds:  God did this for birds...imagine what He has and will continue to do for us!

I hope I remember this truth every time I'm feeling low, inadequate, afraid, unloved and lost. I pray that if I ever forget that I am "fearfully and wonderfully made;" (Psalm 139: 14a)...that the sound of the nasal honking of the geese flying above my head, may remind me that God's miracles live in the seemingly ordinary events of our days.  I pray I learn to cherish small details, and that I learn to live in the moment, so I don't miss the wonders that surround me, on earth, sea or sky! In the Precious Name of Jesus, Our Creator and Sustainer.  Amen!