Hope-New Each Morning
Let’s get right to the point.
First point is this…we have hope. The second point follows the first…our hope is renewed-every morning.
If you are a skeptic; you don’t believe either point. You think I’m delusional…or worse.
You need physical proof to consider either assertion.
One more time…WE DO HAVE HOPE.
To prove these two points we need to take drastic measures. Here it is: The physical proof you need comes from a bird.
It is a very small bird. Its smallness makes the evidence stronger.
The bird weighs about ½ an ounce. Have you thought how much that is? Half an ounce with a beating heart, lungs, brain, all the body systems of an avian-weighing 1/2 ounce. Doesn’t seem possible.
Its wingspan ranges between 5-7 inches-about half a ruler.
Now comes the most far fetched amazing part. You and I would like to be able to do this. We can’t.
When fall comes-winter is near. This bird DOES NOT migrate.
It caches. We are close to the amazing part now.
To cache is to store. This bird stores up seeds for use later on. Not just a few…thousands of seeds.
A food cache would be no value if you forgot you put the food.
Now amazing-As winter approaches, this tiny bird begins a miraculous brain transformation.
The hippocampus of this bird increases capacity by up to 30%. (Can you seasonally add brain cells?)
This increase allows the bird to remember thousands of cached seed locations.
For a chickadee, to remember is to live in winter.
So how many Chickadees live in the frozen northern climates of North America? Biologists estimate the number to be over 40 million-and that number is slightly increasing.
There is a power greater than any human or bird at work here. This did not happen over time…there would be no chickadees if this seasonal body function did not happen-from the start of earth.
And just to pile on amazement…in spring when the birds do not need extra memory those cells disappear. The bird has no control over this seasonal memory change.
You didn’t forget the two points, did you?
We have hope.
Our hope is renewed EVERY morning.
The Black-capped Chickadee is our physical evidence.
Watch a Chickadee.
It survives and thrives in winter.
Only God could give a small bird increased memory at just the time it needs it. If God can do that for 40 million little birds, how much more will He graciously keep His promise to give us new hope EVERY morning!
He made the chickadee.
He made you-and me.
He loves us.
Therefore we have hope…God renews it for us…every morning!
Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:
Because of the Lord’s great love, we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
Lamentations 3:21-23