Are You Singing?
What is the first thing you do in the morning?
What do you think this says about you?
Do you think the first thing we do in the morning impacts the rest of the day?
While I can’t answer these questions for you, I can answer them for the birds. Songbirds sing. I don’t understand the science behind it but I do know that birds sing as they start the day. While people have the privilege of enjoying this bird song in the early hours of the morning, the birds are not actually singing so we humans will hear and enjoy…they sing because that is what they were made to do first thing in the morning and as a believer I like to think it is tied to their own form of worship for their Creator. Or perhaps He created them to remind us of what we ourselves could be doing?
Do you sing songs of praise to Him who has given you a new day?
This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it!
Psalm 118:24 | ESV
Do you rejoice? Do you see it as a day worth rejoicing in?
What is keeping you from seeing the day as one worth rejoicing over?
Really pause and think for a moment, because these questions need answering. If you are not already praising God for the dawn of a new day, then there is something keeping you from this. Is it a fractured relationship, a sickness that causes pain and suffering, a pile of work emails that seem to have no end, looming debt, an unclean house, a child who pushes you away, fear of the future, laziness…the list goes on. There are so many reasons why we decide not to rejoice in a day and the truth is, there will always be reasons. But whether we rejoice over or dread the start of a new day, it is our choice.
When we look at the day of a songbird, it is quite simple. They sing, they fly, they eat worms and other insects, hide from predators of which there are many, take a bath and then head to the nest. These birds have simple and hard lives, and yet they consistently choose to sing in the morning and they have for centuries. In the winter songbirds go quiet, some because they are not needing to establish a breeding territory and others simply lose their ability to sing during the colder months…but when spring arrives they makeup for the silence.
Some birds never sing. Vultures are capable of making sounds and noises but never use their ability to sing. Since the beginning songbirds have been fine tuning their song while vultures have continued to only make raspy, hissing noises when fighting for food or courting. Would vultures have a song today had they chosen to sing thousands of years ago? Well we will never know the answer to this, but I believe we can glean from it.
We have reasons to not sing or rejoice at the start of a new day. We have tasks that are waiting for us the moment we open our eyes. We have desires and fears blooming in our hearts. We have hard conversations and unknown steps waiting to be made. What would happen if we chose to praise our God first thing in the morning, like songbirds, and rejoice in the day He has granted us? We can trust that God sees us and hears our cries, but I also think He is waiting to see when we choose to praise Him. Will we only praise when we face a day we deem worthy of praising Him for? I think many times we aren’t intentionally neglecting to worship Him, but we allow the weight of distractions to paralyze or cloud proactive praise.
Learn from the songbird friend and praise your Heavenly Father at the start of a new day. Silence the reasons to not rejoice, and worship your Creator with your whole heart. I believe Jesus wanted us to pay attention to the birds.
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?”
Matthew 6:25-26 | ESV
You are of more value than birds…but are you singing to Him louder than they? Darkness wants to hold your focus and will throw ample distractions your way because the truth is, the light inside us will grow exponentially when we pour out all that we have in us first thing in the morning to make way for our Father to fill us with Him. If you give Him the praise He is due at the beginning of each day, if you give Him your all, then you will be welcoming Him in to your morning, your day, your life.
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Matthew 6:33 | ESV
If we believe Jesus is who he says he is, then we should also believe all that he said. Jesus makes it very clear in scripture that we are to seek first the kingdom, and in the Kingdom of Heaven - God is being praised always.
And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say,
“Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!”
Revelation 4:8 | ESV
Seek first the Kingdom, sing praises to your Father, rejoicing in the day that He has deemed worthy of existence…and trust Him with whatever lies ahead. And my friend, the more you intentionally make this apart of your daily practice…the more beautiful your song and the brighter the light within you will become. The way you live, the way you speak, the way you serve, the way you love will be glowing with an impenetrable light, not shaken or disturbed by the unknown.
Songbirds sing, while vultures only make unpleasant sounds (and then only when they want something). Let us be more like songbirds, only our song doesn’t have to go dormant in winter. We can choose to see each day of the year as one that the Lord has made…one worthy to rejoice and be glad in, no matter the season we face. With all that He has given, what a sweet gift we can give Him.
