The birds of the sky nest by the waters; they sing among the branches. (Psalm 104:12)
Every morning, I wake up to the beautiful sound of birds chirping outside my window. They sound so happy and free, so excited to be alive. This sound has become the soundtrack of my mornings. It is my favorite song to play, and I always think of it as God’s alarm clock for me, reminding me to get up and embrace that same level of freedom, joy, and excitement in my day.
But the other night, there was a terrible storm near my house. The windows were shaking, and the rain was pouring down so hard it felt like my roof was underneath a waterfall. I immediately started to worry about the birds. Were they okay? Had they found somewhere else to go? I wasn’t sure if they would migrate to another area. The storm was so bad that I was convinced it had wiped them out completely. As I allowed the sound of the thunder and rain to soothe me to sleep, I felt a level of disappointment. While the rain was putting me to sleep, I thought I wouldn’t be able to wake up to my normal soundtrack because those poor birds were drowning in the rain.
Yet, they survived that storm. Bright and early at 4:30 AM, I heard the birds chirping. I couldn’t believe it. How did these birds survive that storm? And even if they did, how did they still have it in them to chirp? I found that so fascinating. I go through storms and after severe hardships, I don’t feel chipper or happy. I’m usually just exhausted by everything I’ve gone through and I don’t have it in me to sing a new song.
But I’ve learned such a valuable lesson from those birds. It’s okay to still get up with expectation, to still get up with a chirp, with a song in your heart, even after a storm. You do not have to let the storm steal your praise, your hope, or your victory. If you made it out of the storm, that is more than enough reason to smile, to chirp.
As you may know, chirping is a form of communication for birds. The chirping you hear in the mornings is typically that of a male bird. They sing to announce that they are alive, alert, and ready to defend their territory. In other words, the chirping is an announcement to their enemies that they are still hanging in there and if you try to infringe on anything in their area, they will be ready for a fight.
Now, every morning I hear the birds chirping, I follow suit and I praise God that I am alive, alert, and ready to defend my territory. For me, that means defending my joy, peace, and hope. So here’s my message to you: keep your chirp! I know you have gone through a storm that you didn’t think you would survive. Or maybe people around you thought it was going to take you out. Instead of crying about the fact that it happened to you, rejoice that it didn’t overcome you. Use this victory as an opportunity to chirp again. And don’t let anyone make you feel bad for surviving your storm. Enjoy your peace and defend it!
If you survived the storm that only means, there's more FIGHT and FLIGHT left in you. :-)
Love, Peace, and TEA!
Ebony
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