Today’s lesson in God’s School is, “What Are You Listening For?” This morning, when it was barely light at the lake, I was walking our four-legged daughter, Lizzy, when I heard the orchestra warming up. It was not the sound of Earth, Wind and Fire warming up to sing “September” or the New York Philharmonic preparing Dvorak’s “New World Symphony” (all of which I love). No, it was God’s creation announcing a new day…a new beginning.

Maybe it’s because I’m old & retired that I recognize the futility…the loss from being too busy to hear…to see how God starts the day. Every morning, no matter what, He starts with the sound of little birds singing their hearts out.

When I was working, going to bed late, getting up late…racing out of the house with my hair on fire I told myself, “I don’t have time now to stop and listen to some birds…I’ve got more important things to do.” “Afterall, I have responsibilities. I don’t have time!” At the end of the day, I was exhausted. I would fall into bed and do it all over again the next day. I call it the “numbing cycle.” Just going through life hoping something good might happen.

Something good can happen “if” you choose well. God did not design us to adopt the world’s “Treadmill Way.” No. Ponder Psalm 46:10, “Be still, and know that I am God.” It’s not that complicated. It’s a choice…a choice each of us makes every day. And when we do…when we listen to His whispers everything changes. We begin to see the day as He sees the day. This is when the words of Jesus found in John 10:10 become alive in your heart, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”

So, back to the birds, God’s performers. They get up, sometimes before dawn, every day with nothing. They have no Social Security, grocery stores…no means of security. If they don’t find something to eat, they will die. Yet they sing! Ponder that for a moment. Now compare your situation as you roar into your day with a Latte. Jesus said it this way, “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” Matthew 6:26-27 BAM! How did Jesus know.

A few months ago, my cousin Greg put the “Merlin Bird” app on my phone. It enables me to identify birds by their song. It’s incredible. Little did I know this morning that there was an Indigo Bunting around. In fact, I have never seen one. But it was here this morning. This is what started this message for the Good News, “Did You Hear it?” I recognize I can use this app to train my ears to identify birds…birds that I have never seen. This when the words of Jesus whispered to me,

“The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” Jesus used this figure of speech, but the Pharisees did not understand what he was telling them.” John 10:3-6

What are you listening to? How are you training your ear (your heart) to hear? If you want to hear the Whispers of God there is only one way, one place, His Word, The Bible. There are several Bible apps available for your phone. Why not listen to God’s Word as you start your day? Then maybe you will find something to sing about!