It's alright for the birds, they don't want baked beans

At 5am this morning, I woke up to go to the toilet. My first thought was “makes a change from 3am”. As I went into the bathroom, I realised it was a bit chilly as I’d left the window open yesterday. I was about to shut it. But then, through the open window, I heard the dawn chorus for the first time this spring.

I’m not good at identifying bird song. I can just about identify a blackbird and a robin, so I don’t know what birds were singing. That doesn’t matter. It was the tweets and whistles and chirps that combined to form a glorious sound.

I returned to bed, and for a while all seemed right with the world.

But then today started.

My wife said around 7am she was going to Sainsburys to get some shopping. She was back within 10 minutes as she couldn’t get into the car park. It was annoying. We could manage for a couple of days no problem but the day seemed gloomier. And what if things weren’t better tomorrow?

We had breakfast and I suggested that we might get what we needed at Lidl. My wife was a bit sceptical, but we went.

Good old Lidl. We got 90% of the things on the shopping list (no sugar, cornflakes or baked beans.) But we’re ok. And other shoppers there were being sensible. (Apart from the bloke with at least 10 chickens in his trolley who was told in no uncertain terms by a member of staff to put 8 back in the fridge.) The lady on the till looked tired and stressed. I always thanks checkout operators and try and chat. But I made sure she knew how we appreciated what she and her colleagues were doing.

The day seemed brighter. And not just because, for once, I was proved right!

We then went off to the nearby little town of Corsham, to our favourite butcher and got what we needed there. We got some fruit and veg in the green grocers and paid a very important visit to the Corsham bookshop. (A gem of a place that needs support. What we’ve saved in my wife not spending on petrol to get to work this week, we used on buying books and CDs!)

I was on my mobility scooter, so I trundled back to the car to put the scooter away and the shopping in whilst my wife popped into Coop to see if they had the missing bits. My wife needed our one spare bag, so I dumped everything on the back seat and loaded my scooter in to boot. A young woman with a baby was next to me. She put the baby in her car and put the push chair away. Then she said to me “Are you ok? Do you need any help? I’ve got a spare bag for your shopping if you need it. You can have it no problem.” I thanked her and said my wife would soon be back. “That’s ok then. As long as you’re alright” and she gave a me a smile.

It was as if the drizzle had stopped and the sun had come out. The world seemed a better place.

(Coop had Cornflakes and sugar but no baked beans.)

Coming home I recalled a Bible passage, Matthew 6: 25 – 34, in which Jesus reminds his followers of the importance of keeping perspective on things and not worrying. And of not getting swept up in the things of the world.

25 ‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? NIV

The birds of the dawn chorus seemed to be care free. They didn’t worry about toilet rolls, or cornflakes or baked beans.

I know it’s an easy thing to say “Don’t worry”. It is natural to worry. We are living in unprecedented times. Nothing like this has happened in most of our life times.

(And by the way, if I hear one more 50 year old idiot say “We survived the war” they may find that a walking stick, deployed in Christian love, hurts! Most people in this country were not alive “during the war”. And many who were probably were too young to remember rationing clearly or would not wish to experience rationing again.)

It is worrying when we see pictures of supermarkets with empty shelves. It is worrying if you’ve been told to work from home. It is worrying if you run a business and you wonder whether it will survive. It is worrying if you have a gig economy job that won’t pay sick pay. It is worrying when you’re sat on a checkout in Lidl coming in to contact with many people each day. It is worrying if you’re a medic dealing with really sick people and you wonder if you’ll catch the disease yourself and haven't been given the Personal Protective Equipment you need.

I'm worried. I worry about my own health. The health of my family. My elderly parents.

Covid 19 is worrying.

But for those of us with a faith all we can do is trust in those words of Jesus. Words that Eugene Patterson in The Message brings right up to date:

Matthew 6:25-34 The Message (MSG)

25-26 “If you decide for God, living a life of God-worship, it follows that you don’t fuss about what’s on the table at mealtimes or whether the clothes in your closet are in fashion. There is far more to your life than the food you put in your stomach, more to your outer appearance than the clothes you hang on your body. Look at the birds, free and unfettered, not tied down to a job description, careless in the care of God. And you count far more to him than birds.
27-29 “Has anyone by fussing in front of the mirror ever gotten taller by so much as an inch? All this time and money wasted on fashion—do you think it makes that much difference? Instead of looking at the fashions, walk out into the fields and look at the wildflowers. They never primp or shop, but have you ever seen colour and design quite like it? The ten best-dressed men and women in the country look shabby alongside them.
30-33 “If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don’t you think he’ll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.
34 “Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.

Still worried? If all else fails, get up at 5am, go in to the bathroom, open the window and listen to the dawn chorus. Then you’ll understand what Jesus means.