I have spent a whole day bird watching, cloud watching, and sunset watching from my perch in the porch swing. I watched a beautiful spring day awaken with its dark blue sky, warm golden sunshine, and fluffy white clouds. I then watched this glorious day bed down for the night as the sunset of Mother Nature’s muted watercolors painted the horizon in pale washes of blush peach, powder blue, thistle, and shell pink. As the sun took Father Sky’s hand to be escorted down the horizon, she blew a kiss to the clouds high on the horizon crowning them in golden light. A beautiful sunset tonight in unusual shades of colors.

Today’s quote in my everyday quote book is a favorite of mine written by William Blake. “No bird soars too high if he soars with his own wings.” I’ve watched the little songbirds visiting the feeders today and marveled in their acrobatic flights among the feeders and oak branches. Some graceful, sure in their path, others flitting from twig to twig, trying to decide which flight path to choose. Then I see the buzzards’ shadows and look up to see them winding the staircase to the high blue heavens.

I look at Blake’s quote as a proverb reminding us that our success is achieved by hard work and personal effort. We can’t be too successful if we’ve earned it honestly. We, too, can fly high on our wings of faith. God will lift us with his grace and mercy. When we sit on a branch that breaks we’ll land in his outstretched hands. Our faith gives us wings to rise above the trials and tribulations of life. Just as the bird instinctively trusts its wings to lift them into the air we use our spiritual strength to move forward when we’re faced with hardships, our love and commitment to God giving us wings to soar above the anxieties of everyday life.

With our faith we feel the warmth of God even in the darkness. When we spread our wings and fly, our belief in God guides our way. We soar and fly freely with our dreams on the faithfulness of God and his grace. If we give up on our dreams with our faith questioned, we’re like a bird with a broken wing, dragging along the ground. The birds teach us to have faith and trust that God will provide what we need. “Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them.” The birds are like disciples for the Lord, urging us to sing songs and compose symphonies of praise for all God’s gifts and blessings, telling us to gather together to weather the storms, to be grateful for the warmth of the sun, appreciative of the life giving rain. Scripture in Isaiah 40:31 promises us that “those who hope in or wait upon the Lord will have their strength renewed, allowing them to soar like eagles.”

“If you want to fly, grow wings of faith.” — Debasish Mridha