Blessings

"Trust in the Lord with all of your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths." Proverbs 3: 5 and 6.
What an absolutely breathtakingly gorgeous day it was today...spring is on it's way. As I ran with friends over the George Washington bridge this afternoon, I was thinking on all of the blessings in my life, not the least was sun shining in all of it's glory on me as I felt the wind on my face. For me, running is almost like a prayer; it takes me somewhere that nothing else really can.
I saw a sparrow, crushed and broken on the sidewalk, and my heart twisted inside of me. In a strange and perhaps somewhat macabre way, it reminded me of Luke 12:6-7, "Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows."
Whenever I see a sparrow, I think of this verse, and it reminds me how intricately involved God is in the affairs of my life and this world. I was at Starbs yesterday, watching a pigeon and a sparrow eating crumbs off of the sidewalk, oblivious to the passers-by. I get really taken with the simple beauties in life like that. Watching the sparrow and pigeon eating together, not fighting for crumbs, but sharing, hopping around each other in a dance of bird-dom. I don't know why, but seeing something like that brings such happiness to my soul. In a world where foul and horrible things are happening to people each day, to see birds just being birds is somehow so precious.
My friend lent me a short book, more of a poem, called "The Interview With God". It reads as follows:

I dreamed I had an interview with God.
"So you would like to interview Me?", God asked.
"If You have the time", I said.
God smiled. "My time is eternity. What questions do you have in mind for Me?"
"What surprises you most about humankind?"
God answered..."That they get bored with childhood, they rush to grow up, and then long to be children again. That they lose their health to make money...and then lose their money to restore their health. That by thinking anxiously about the future, they forget the present, such that they live in neither the present nor the future. That they live as if they will never die, and die as though they had never lived."

God's hand took mine, and we were silent for awhile.

And then I asked, "As a parent, what are some of life's lessons You want Your children to learn?"
"To learn that they cannot make anyone love them. All they can do is let themselves be loved. To learn that it is not good to compare themselves to others. To learn to forgive by practicing forgiveness. To learn that it only takes a few seconds to open profound wounds in those they love, and it can take many years to heal them. To learn that two people can look at the same thing and see it differently. To learn that it is not enough that they forgive one another, but they must also forgive themselves."
"Thank You for Your time", I said. "Is there anything else You'd like Your children to know?"
God smiled and said..."Just know that I am here...always."
~Author Unknown