– Joe Fornear
For most of last week, I heard him singing outside our house at all hours of the day. The little mockingbird was relentless. 
A few evenings in a row he was still going strong past midnight. Finally, the other night at 3 AM, a driving rain and thunder woke me up. Between the claps and gusts, sure enough, I could hear the little fellow tweeting out his songs.
In Matthew 6:26, Jesus said, “Consider the birds.” Perhaps this mockingbird has something to teach us.
I believe there are two major reasons why mockingbirds sing. The first is from this passage in the Psalms – birds praise God when they chirp.
Let them praise the name of the LORD, for He commanded and they were created. He set them in place for ever and ever; He gave a decree that will never pass away. Praise the LORD from the earth, you… wild animals and all cattle, small creatures and flying birds – Psalm 148:5-7a & 10
But certainly male mockingbirds are also looking to impress the females. I looked it up, only bachelor mockingbirds sing around the clock. Are they wooing by their ability to mimic the praise tunes of other birds? A female (human) friend commented about the likelihood, “A guy who’s praising God can be very attractive.” I suppose singing during a fierce storm in the middle of the night would be even more attractive to a chick. Interestingly, haven’t heard him much since that stormy night.
Storms can leave a muddy mess, but we can rise – even glide above it all. The poet Carl Sandburg once said, “There is an eagle in me that wants to soar, and there is a hippopotamus in me that wants to wallow in the mud.” In the fiercest storm of my life, my Stage IV cancer battle, wallowing in the mud was easy, yet wallowing made everything harder. On the other hand, praising God was hard at first, but made coping much easier. King David “saw” the choice:
Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed with me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him for the help of His presence. – Psalm 42:5
He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay, and He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm. – Psalm 40:2
Choose wisely. I know it’s hard, but resist wallowing. And we’ll definitely need His help to praise in the storms. Listen to the mockingbird!
