There are many signs that the season is changing, especially fall. Temperature chages and leaves changing color (I wrote about that last time) are just one. Here's another sign. I almost ran into one last week!
Flocks of starlings gather during this time of year. The flocks can get so large that they can sometimes seem to come alive as a dark undulating cloud. This is called a murmur, or murmuration. The birds do this as they gather to roost for the night.
"Will somebody just land already? I'm getting tired!"
These murmurs bring to mind a question. How do these birds not collide with one another? Why are there not dead birds covering the ground?
It's a God thing.
You can also see this behavior in large schools of fish, darting here and there to avoid predators. There IS safety in numbers.
Have you ever been in a large stadium and someone, somewhere, starts "the wave?" Synchronized standing and sitting creates the illusion of a human "wave" circling the field.
If you trace these events back to their beginning, they all start with a single bird taking flight, or a single human directing the "standing up." There is a beginning and therefore an ending. Carried to their very inception, each on them has a creator. A thought.
There are several biblical analogies to behold in the example of a murmur.
"In the beginning," God created Adam, right? Out of one man the world's population has now increased to 8.2 billion inhabitants. If we all jumped at the same time, what would happen?
When God spoke to Abraham, He said, “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing." - Genesis 12:2
By the end of the Book of Genesis (Exodus 1) the Israelites were a murmur unto themselves.
"The Israelites were exceedingly fruitful; they multiplied greatly, increased in numbers and became so numerous that the land was filled with them." - Exodus 1:7
When Joshua and the Israelites conquered Jericho they all marched around the city then siddenly shouted. The city walls collapsed (Joshua 5:13 - 6:27).
A time is coming, and it is coming soon, when all God's children will be taking flight, just like those starlings. It will happen "in the twinkling of the eye" as Paul told the church is in Thessalonica. We will be like starlings in our coordinated flight up to be with Jesus.
"For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever." - 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17
Let's murmur!
No comments:
Post a Comment