The Hummingbird and the Law

This week has been challenging, and honestly pretty rough spiritually and emotionally. After falling into self-hatred, on Wednesday night I fell asleep crying out to God. In the morning I woke up, still half asleep, with the overwhelming sensation of comfort and security, and Scriptures about my identity in Christ running through my head, simultaneously, I was remembering the dream I had just had--I had forget-me-nots growing out of my knuckles, and some guy had forget-me-nots growing out of his eyebrows, and there were several tiny little hummingbirds feeding on the flowers. So that was Thursday morning, and this morning (Friday) when I got back from my run, I sat on Rodelyn's front porch to read the Bible, and I had just finished reading a chapter from the OT, and started reading Psalm 71 which begins "In you oh Lord I put my trust.." and an irregular, intermitten buzzing noise caught my attention. There in front of me, in the bushes, was a hummingbird! I watched, mesmerized, as it flitted about for about half a minute, and left as quickly as it came.
As I process this experience and draw conclusions from it, I realize that first of all, an encounter with a hummingbird is already a special thing, even a gift from God, even a specific reminder from Him of His love. And in fact, that is how it is with any encounter with creation--the sunsets, the flowers are all meant to remind us of God's love--it's all from Him, for us...But then to have this dream come to life, and as an answer to my crying out, was just...so personal.
One other conclusion hit me over the head as I continued my musing this morning; the flowers grew on the hand and the foreheard. This is significant in Scripture--I looked it up and found Deuteronomy 6:4-8 "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates."

and Revelation 22:3-5
"No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. ⁴They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. ⁵There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever."

and Hebrews 10:16
"This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds."

The command in Deuteronomy to write and bind the law on the hand and the forehead is a figurative way of saying that the people of God should both know and do His commands. And the greatest command is love, and God Himself is writing it on my heart and mind.

ADDITION TO THE HUMMINGBIRD STORY!! :D

God is amazing my friends. Since the first encounter, I have had two more! Out of His beautiful, whimsical, tender heart, God has decided to send me hummingbirds as His little messengers to remind me that He loves me, He's listening, and to write His law of love on my head and hand. Two weeks ago I found myself again in the throes of theological tumult. Anxt-ridden, I felt my mind begin to darken with confusion, and thank God, since I've been through this before, I knew after the second day that the only thing I could do was to take a Sabbath and just set my burden at Jesus' feet. So on a Saturday, I went down to Griffy Lake, a beautiful day, my guitar, Bible, journal, book, and a secluded inlet, sitting on a large fallen tree bridge. After worshipping some time, I entered into prayer, during which I was visited by a solitary hummingbird!! I sat in awe as he came to a halt two feet in front of me, and then proceeded to come another foot closer as if to get a good look at me and to make sure he had my attention! I left Griffy with a peace that transcends understanding and it lasted me through the week. Hallelujiah Hallelujiah Hallelujiah. Our Lord Reigns! God is living my friends and His heart is lovely to behold. Worship Him in gladness all ye saints. Call on His name and delight in His ways. Glory.

The next encounter was on the following Tuesday. My dearest sister in Christ Rodelyn asked if we could meet for prayer, and chose a little stone bench in the corner of the Presidents Garden. It was a haven of peace in the middle of the bustling campus. About 20 minutes into prayer, Rodi started praying with her eyes open--praising God as she took everything in. I followed suit, and just as I had finished my first request to God to provide us with divine opportunities for the gospel, low and behold a hummingbird positioned itself right in front of us for a few moments and then flew away. WOW! I love my God. Everyone needs to know Him. I can't imagine life without Him. He's awesome. He's brilliant. He's beyond comprehension. He'll come at a moment's notice. He'll wait a lifetime. Words utterly fail before Him. Who will seek Him? Come, let us seek Him. He gives us strength for the journey.

ADDITION TO THE HUMMINGBIRD STORY II! July 15, 2010

It's a shame I didn't write these hummingbird sightings down right away so that I could keep record of the exact dates...I'll give it my best shot. The first was in CA again--during the music camp. We were at Dr. Hensley's house for a cookout and I was in the back yard looking around. I happened to be looking up into a pine tree when a hummingbird flew right into my line of vision way up in the pine tree, paused, and then took off.

The second was actually while taking a shower back at the apartment, maybe two weeks ago. I had the window open because our air broke down. The view is actually quite lovely because that side of our apartment is shaded by a tall and substantial stand of bamboo trees accompanying a great willow. The same thing happened as each time before--the hummingbird paused directly in my line of vision, and then took off.

...I could explain it away as chance...hahahahaha. shoot. I know God created that bird, and I know He wants to give me joy just like every other person in all creation...sunsets, peonies, mountains...squirrels...blobfish. Sometimes, when I think about it. I can't keep myself from laughing. I love Him.

ADDITION TO THE HUMMINGBIRD STORY III!!!
August 8, 2010

On average, how often do people see hummingbirds? I wonder. It gives me joy beyond belief. Such a tiny thing... So today I was just talking with Rodelyn out on her balcony about God's goodness and planting flowers, and then one showed up right in front of me!! It was right next to Rodelyn, like inches away from her, but she had her back turned. It paused for a second as it always does and then zoomed away. Only God could possibly know the indescribable joy this gives to my heart. The other cool part is that two nights ago I had another dream about hummingbirds. This time there were two, and they were kind of puffy looking, like when birds puff their feathers in winter. I gathered that one was male and one was female, and the supposed male one was picking off red berries from a tree and feeding them to the supposed female one. Why is God so incredible to me? I don't understand. I love Him I love Him I love Him.

Today has just been an awesome Jesus-filled day too. I'm seeing so many people open up to him and find their relationship with him and it's so beautiful.
In church (Foot of the Cross @ the Pourhouse 10am!) Matt is walking us through Galatians, and today he talked about chapter 4, driving home what sonship in God looks like verses slavery, or religion. very powerful (podcast: www.fotc.us). I'm falling in love with the church like I never expected to. Follow Jesus, wherever He goes, it's so simple. Anyways, afterward, Chelsey, Steven, Stefano and I went to Noodles and Steven bought for both me and Stefano -- he's amazing. As we're waiting for our food, Jim the custodian from Trinity walks in, which reminds me that I'm supposed to be at Renovo at 1pm! So we head over after eating and serve. I meet Rob there who David Gregg and I met two years back when we lived on the streets for a week (read about it: www.renovoministries.org) to get to know the homeless community, and Rob was the one who looked out for us, gave us shelter. Rob has continually been an amazing story of God's love and grace, and I'm so blessed to witness it. He just shared how he was walking down the street, homeless, jobless and this guy he knew for like a week working over at Shanti yelled across the street to him, "Hey, you want a job?" and Rob was employed at Taste of India just like that. Then he shared several stories about God's provision in his time of need. The main one was about his scooter which he purchased two years ago and was stolen. Some drunk guy stole it, stopped 100 yards away from his house to take a piss and fell over. The cops found the scooter lying on the side of the road and through some God orchestrated turn of events, Rob learned of this just this past week. Some kind people paid the waiver, and offered to give him a ride to pick it up. He said this with tears in his eyes. This wonderfully humble middle aged man with tattooes all over his arms, big and rough looking crying because he sees the grace of God in His life. I'm all joy. He goes on. Once it was so cold and he had to sleep outside and he didn't know what to do except to steal a sleeping bag off of someone's clothesline, even though he didn't want to steal he wanted to stay warm. On his way over to this house he passes a dumpster that has freshly cleaned sweaters in sealed dry cleaning bags. Some lady notices him rummaging and asks him if he could use a big comforter, some sheets, and some pillows. Halleluyah. He says this has happened numerous times in his life. "People think I'm crazy for saying this, but...whenever I want something and I go out and look for it I can never find it, but whenever I need something it will always show up when I'm not looking for it. Or I will pick something up that I don't think I need and then a couple of days later it will be exactly what I need. mmm. Matthew 6:25-34...

...I decided to look up hummingbirds on wiki. I'm pretty sure every one I've seen so far is a female ruby-throat, like the picture above...Fun fact--myth: Aztecs wore hummingbird talismans, the talismans being representations as well as actual hummingbird fetishes formed from parts of real hummingbirds: emblematic for their vigor, energy and propensity to do work along with their sharp beaks that mimic instruments of weaponry, bloodletting, penetration and intimacy. Hummingbird talismans were prized as drawing sexual potency, energy, vigor and skill at arms and warfareto the wearer