Dear Reader:

Isn’t it amazing how we can get up in the morning and stare at one object that sends our minds reeling off into the world of memory and wonder?

In yesterday’s daily devotion (Jesus Calling) the first three lines immediately caught my attention…

SEEK MY FACE…at the beginning of your day. This practice enables you to “put Me On” and “wear Me” throughout the day…By communicating with me first each day…you are better prepared for whatever comes your way.

The first thing that I saw when I got up yesterday and plopped on the sofa eating my breakfast yogurt…was this adorable hummingbird sitting in a planter on the center table in my Happy Room. (After reading the devotional I mused to myself if this is the Face of God…it sure is a cute one!)

The adorable cloth hummingbird (Jackson gave each of us at Edisto) made me remember a fascinating tidbit I read from Steven Johnson’s  amazing book (I just finished): How We Got to Now. 

The book is a series of anecdotes about the evolution of events that took place through the invention of everyday objects & instruments we use today.

It also demonstrates how God’s creatures have changed over time to adapt to their needs…their survival. The hummingbird story just blew me away.

Here is an excerpt from this book: “The Hummingbird Effect”

THIS IS HOW CHANGE happens in the natural world: sometime during the Cretaceous age, flowers began to evolve colors and scents that signaled the presence of pollen to insects, who simultaneously evolved complex equipment to extract the pollen and, inadvertently, fertilize other flowers with pollen.

Over time, the flowers supplemented the pollen with even more energy-rich nectar to lure the insects into the rituals of pollination. Bees and other insects evolved the sensory tools to see and be drawn to flowers, just as the flowers evolved the properties that attract bees.

The symbiosis between flowering plants and insects that led to the production of nectar ultimately created an opportunity for much larger organisms — the hummingbirds — to extract nectar from plants, though to do that they evolved a extremely unusual form of flight mechanics that enable them to hover alongside the flower in a way that few birds can even come close to doing. In other words, they had to learn an entirely new way to fly.

Insects can stabilize themselves mid-flight because they have fundamental flexibility to their anatomy that vertebrates lack. Yet despite the restrictions placed on them by their skeletal structure, hummingbirds evolved a novel way of rotating their wings, giving power to the upstroke as well as the downstroke, enabling them to float mid-air while extracting nectar from a flower.

……………………….

Doesn’t the story of the metamorphosis of the hummingbird blow your mind?

How can anyone not believe in a Creator who gives such minute detail to every single living organism in the universe? It is like He is playing connect the dots….flowering plants to insects to nectar to wing adaptation to hummingbirds…we are all connected. And not just connected but dependent on each other for life.

I think that was God’s intention…that no one has to ‘go it alone’ in this world…the laws of nature and the universe only  work when we all work together.

This story also re-enforces the conviction that God doesn’t just create us and leave us to wander aimlessly through this life…but He is constantly changing us to help us adapt to our spiritual journey and purpose in life…He makes sure we have our “wings” to fly towards our individualized destiny.

So until tomorrow…Let us wake up each morning to see the Face of God in every living organism.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

* The Famous Dynamic Dingle Duo.…Lachlan and Rutledge!

Go Rutledge…Boo Boo is so proud…not even two yet and he knows all his colors!

* I worked in the garden on and off all day yesterday…it makes me so happy…then last evening I blew the debris off the deck and then turned on the lights and fountain. It was a cool breeze blowing-a little slice of heaven…and all I could think of was that I was feeling the “breath of God“.. His Spirit in mine!

I watched Eva Cate and Rutledge’s lanterns flick on…have ordered two more for Jakie and Lachlan’s trees..and Lachlan’s stepping stone is due to arrive next week. Then all the trees will be “official.”