Shake it Off

Have you ever noticed that animals just move on from everything with nary a worry? Dogs just do that body shake from head to tail and back again. Birds just sing and flap their wings like crazy. And the squirrel that I am at war with for supremacy of my garden just shakes of the water from my Super Soaker and runs up a tree to mock me from afar. It is amazing the faith, trust, and resiliency that animals have compared to us. This reminds me of my favorite Bible verse…Matt 6:25-34 (NKJV):

25 “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?

28 “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.  

These statements show that Jesus was good at using common things to remind us that we overcomplicate life. And he is right. (I know, my endorsement is unnecessary – I mean Jesus is God, so settle down, because I must remind us that we forget the simple things.) Birds don’t ponder my Amazon monthly order of bird seed or the Squirrel Buster bird feeders that sustain them (I highly recommend these to save seed and for entertainment). The squirrel doesn’t know how much effort it takes to plant flowers in hanging pots on our deck or the mess it makes in my tiny sports car to bring home soil for growing her snacks. Lilies are fragile flowers, but even they don’t worry and just shine. My dog gets scared, barks, runs around, and then just shakes it off and takes a nap. That is the best. And, my cats, they feel sick, yak, and then spread out in the sun as if nothing ever happened. The rest of God’s creation seems to have taken God’s maintenance as fact, while we need God to remind us that our worries never solved anything. Perhaps Jesus should have said, shake is off, trust, and stretch out in the Son, because the sun will rise tomorrow.