The Singer

(Today's story is based on Matthew 6, 9, and Luke 12 from the Jesus Storybook Bible.)

People loved to be near Jesus. Sick people, well people, happy and sad. Worried people who worried about all kinds of things. "What if we don't have enough food? Or clothes? Or suppose we run out of money? What if there isn't enough... and everything goes wrong?"

Jesus' heart was filled with compassion for the people. So he sat the people down and spoke to them. "See the birds over there?" he said. "Where do they get their food? Do they have cabinets full of food?" The people laughed. "No," said Jesus, "They don't need to worry about that. Because God knows what they need and feeds them."

And likewise he spoke of the flowers, receiving their beauty from God: "They do not need clothes-- God clothes them in royal robes... not even a king is that well dressed!" The people felt a great burden lifted off their shoulders.  

"Little flock," said Jesus, "you are more important than birds! More important than flowers! The birds and the flowers don't sit and worry about things. And God doesn't want his children to worry either. He loves to look after the birds and the flowers. And he loves to look after you, too."

Jesus knew that God was always watching and loving the world he made. Though people had forgotten the song, the birds and the flowers still remembered their song of praise: 

"God made us. He loves us. He is very pleased with us. It was why Jesus had come into the world: to sing them that wonderful song; to sing it not only with his voice, but with his whole life,  so that God's children could remember it and join in and sing it, too."