A LESSON FROM THE HUMMINGBIRDS

Pastor Norman Howard Walker

 

We have a hummingbird feeder outside our kitchen window and we enjoy watching the little creatures come for their shot of sugar water. Sometimes they line up like jets circling the airport. Occasionally they dart at each other in a show of what looks like impatience. Even as they are dipping their long, pointed beaks into the nectar their wings are usually beating. I’m told that the wings of a hummingbird beat around 80 times per second. That is an incredible amount of energy expended to stay aloft.

There are times in life when humans expend enormous amounts of energy just to stay aloft. The holiday season is typically one of those times. With everything going on we feel like a hummingbird with wings beating 80 times per second. As I found myself getting caught up in a hectic schedule, too many demands on my time, too much month at the end of my money, and…you get the picture, a Bible verse came to mind, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7.

By the way, one chilly fall morning as I was looking out our kitchen window a single hummingbird approached the feeder, wings beating at 80 times per second, but this time it did something I didn’t expect. Normally it is pull up, insert the beak into the feeder, guzzle the sweet liquid, with wings always beating, then fly off. This time the little bird flew up and perched on the roost while it drank from the feeder, its wings were still. I watched and thought that even the hummingbirds need to rest from their frenetic pace. Maybe we humans should do the same.