Today’s readings: 1 Kings 18:41–19:8; Philippians 3:17–4:7; Matthew 3:13-17

As he lay on his plank bed in cell ninety-two at Tegel Military Prison, Dietrich Bonhoeffer heard singing. She was back: the thrush warbling in the prison yard. He soon learned she sang every morning and evening. Was the songbird’s faithful warbling there an accident? Had the singer been sent; the song intended for him?

Asia Bibi reports something similar from her death-row cell in Pakistan: a bird which sings outside her window. Her joy? The Creator has taken thought for me.

Rejoicing in the Lord involves taking creation personally. The glories around us are striking enough, but why are they here? Hiking beside a mountain brook, a botanist stoops to admire how a blue iris, swaying in swift water, holds her ground. Later on the same path, a photographer sees in that iris the beauty of color, light, and shadow which begs to be captured in an image. Then a believer stops; watches the delicate flower twirl, spin, and bow; looks upward and says, “You have shown me my heart dancing before you.” Oh to walk through the world and see it as love.

Prayer: Dear Father, open my eyes that I may rejoice. Amen.

Today’s devotion was written by Gary Blobaum, Pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church, in Sumter, SC.

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