Pastor's Corner: What does the meadowlark say?

Last weekend, the mornings were gray and wet - a good weekend to linger in the comforts of one's bed. But as is so often the case for me, nature eventually calls and I have to get up. Besides, the days just refuse to wait around for me.

So, per the usual morning routine, I threw on a jacket and tromped outside in my Muck boots. Drops of rain clung to the fresh shoots of grass that the horses eagerly chased once I opened the corral. And as the drumming of their hooves rolled out to pasture, a new sound suddenly perked up my ears.

Singing.

Sweet and crisp, and piercing the morning drizzle with audible sunshine. The cool, damp air was full of music rising from a choir of meadowlarks. Such a cheerful, hopeful sound. Those little birds filled the prairie with their mate-seeking serenades, but what I heard was a chorus of adoration to the Maker. The landscape had turned into a cathedral with surround-sound pouring out a hymn that had the power to lift the spirit to the heights of heaven.

And to think I had been tempted to sleep through this!

It brought to mind Job 12:7-9 - "Ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish in the sea inform you. Which of all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this?"

Spring is the season when all Creation seems to synchronize its voice to tell, teach, and inform us of our Almighty God. A creative God who works in the medium of love and care down to the finest microscopic detail. A mighty God who can bring the loftiest thunderhead down low to greet the simple trill of a meadowlark. A holy God whose light which knows no darkness surpasses our narrow and meager understanding.

This is the God-given season when our senses come alive and take notice of His heralds of spring. It's a time when those who have ears can hear and those who have eyes can see the evidence poured out before us - evidence of a redeeming God whose will and purpose is to restore, rebuild and renew.

Spring is a snapshot of God's ongoing masterpiece of life being reborn!

This weekend, whether it's damp and gray or bright and warm, I encourage you to step outside. Don't fall asleep through the lessons of God's creation. Open your eyes and your ears to what the animals and the earth already know and proclaim - that new life springs forth. Through our resurrected Lord, Jesus Christ, the power of new life is available to you too. And armed with such divine knowledge, may your heart join the meadowlarks in their ageless anthem of praise!

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Commissioned Lay Pastor Theresa Danley

Milk River Churches, First Presbyterian Church of Havre, Presbyterian Church of Chinook, Chinook United Methodist Church, Chinook American Lutheran Church