Song Birds

In Activity Days this last week (I'm an activity day leader at church - twice a month another lady and I plan an activity for the 8 to 11 year old girls at church, usually it correlates with their Faith in God program or Gospel Standards from Primary) anyway, last week we made bird feeders. I found a great one on Family Fun, the link is posted below, and the girls had a blast. I wasn't sure how "in to it" they would be, but even the girls that claim to not like crafts enjoyed this. I think it had something to do with recycling plastic bottles (which makes everyone feel good) and making something that you just can't get wrong - even if it leaks a lot of birdseed, the birds will love it!

While preparing for this, I took Miss Lilly and Big D to the park to play one afternoon and found myself intrigued by the birds singing in the woods around the playground/park in our neighborhood. They were like nothing I've ever heard - they were beautiful! I've always wondered about those fairy tale princesses that sing "like song birds" and never quite understood -- now I do! Another wonderful thing about living here - the music of the song birds!

In keeping with the theme for our activity, I found this great story and thought I would share it,

One evening, (I'm sure it has been at least a few decades ago) a small bird flew into the Tabernacle. It is the building in SLC that used to be where General Conference meetings were held before the Conference Center was built . It has a great dome shaped roof and was built by the pioneers, thus no air conditioning :) In order to cool it, they often opened all the windows and doors in the evenings. No one noticed the bird that night, and in the morning when they were setting up for a concert, they noticed this bird. The manager for the building was called and they did everything they could think of to get it out. Experts were even called and they suggested using a pellet gun to shot it, or poisoning it with food. The manager didn't feel right about this, but also knew they needed to do something quickly before the concert. He also remembered President Kimball's talk about not killing the little birds. So, he said a prayer. In his prayer he asked “Heavenly Father, if this sparrow is important to you, could you please let us know how to safely remove it?” Soon after he was inspired to turn off all the lights in the building and close all the doors but one. Immediately the bird flew straight out of the building. (Taken from Ronald D. John, “A Sparrow in the Tabernacle,” Ensign, Jun 1989, 24)

It reminded me of one of my favorite scriptures, in Luke 12:6-7; where Jesus is speaking to his disciples and followers and in the verse before this, interestingly enough, he talks about fear. Then he says, "Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows."

In times of uncertainty and frustration I think it is important to remember - we are worth more than sparrows. He who knows us perfectly, knows our weaknesses, but he also knows our incredible strengths and He will bless us even if we just try, try to have faith, try to do what is right, try even if others don't understand, try to live better even when we've made mistakes! All we have to do is try our best - we are worth more to Him than the sparrows that sing beautiful songs in the trees.

http://jas.familyfun.go.com/arts-and-crafts?page=CraftDisplay&craftid=11737