The two female hummingbirds that daily visited our feeder have disappeared. The males had gone almost a month earlier. It happens every year around this time, and moves me to think of these beautiful, fragile creatures traveling from here in Northern Texas to South America, possibly crossing the Gulf of Mexico alone to arrive at their winter home. I feel a sense of loss, even though I’m certain that they, or others like them, will return next year.

The Imitation of Christ, a book by Thomas a Kempis (1379-1471) contains these words: “If your heart is straight with God then every creature will be to you a mirror of life and a book of holy doctrine.” I can’t help thinking of our Creator when I see the hummingbirds, and wonder at their beauty, but especially at their perseverance in the challenging perimeters of their very existence. Fragile as they are, they endure heat and cold, wind and rain and persevere in their hunt for the nectar that sustains them.

The author of the book of Hebrews wrote about Christian perseverance: Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we professed, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good works. My righteous one will live by faith. And I take no pleasure in the one who shrinks back. But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved. ( Hebrews 10:23& 38)

Each of the twelve disciples, except one, managed to persevere in a faith that transcended any other interest they had in life, and they kept their faith and testimony until the end of their lives on earth. Among such a varied group of men, it seems amazing that the Spirit of God could so strengthen and support them that they became the backbone of the Christian church. Jesus spoke to Simon, “I tell you that you are Peter, (rock) and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not overcome it.” (Matthew 16:18) The gift of faith given them by the Holly Spirit as well as by Jesus himself, conveyed the strength and ability to persevere.

To me the hummingbirds are a mirror of life, and a book of holy doctrine.

Love in Him,

Prue