Things With Wings

Things With Wings

I’m not sure when my fascination with “things with wings” began. I just realized one day that a lot of my photos involved something that was flying. All of God’s creation is intricate and amazing, so I guess it shouldn’t come as a surprise that specific elements might catch one’s attention. Things with wings have not only captured my personal interest, but have become symbols, images, and metaphors in so much literature, including the Bible. This blog is going to be more about the pictures than the words, but you know what they say, “A picture is worth 1,000 words,” so here we go:

Birds in Scripture

Genesis 1:20-23: And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth. And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

Matthew 6:26: “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?”

Isaiah 40:31: “but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”

Job 38:41: “Who provides food for the raven when its young cry out to God and wander about for lack of food?”

Deuteronomy 22:6-7: “If you come across a bird’s nest in any tree or on the ground, and the mother is sitting on the young or on the eggs, do not take the mother with the young. You may take the young, but you shall let the mother go, so that it may go well with you and you may live long.”

Proverbs 27:8: “Like a bird that flits from branch to branch is the one who strays from his home.”

Matthew 23:37: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you! How often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing!”

True Story!

I have to add a story here, because if I didn’t tell at least one story, y’all would think this blog came from someone else:

Because of the hasty retreat of some neighbors several summers ago, our very rural neighborhood ended up with some free range chickens. They came marching down the hill every day and ate things from my flower beds and pooped on my porch. They irritated me so much, but for some odd reason, those chickens developed a relationship with my husband:

I saw them one day in the garden as a hawk flew overhead. They immediately stopped all sound and movement and became like chicken statues. Marty went out to them and said, “Come on, girls, I’ll walk you to safety,” and they followed him into the woods!

Well, we went on vacation for a little over a week, and I thought when we got home, they would surely have moved on. We pulled up–no chickens in sight. However, when Marty walked up to the porch he called down to me, “The chickens left you a present.” Oh no! What mess was waiting for me? Dreading what I would find, I walked up to the porch and saw this:

Ten eggs that they had conveniently laid in a basket on the porch! How could I be upset? Obviously, they didn’t intend to go anywhere, and now they were paying rent!

We got free eggs every day from then until the property next door was sold and the new owner moved the chickens to greener pastures.

Meanwhile, back in the Bible …

Psalm 104:12: “The trees of the Lord are full of sap; the cedars of Lebanon that he planted, where the birds make their nests; the stork has its home in the fir trees.”

Psalm 124:7 – “We have escaped like a bird from the fowler’s snare; the snare has been broken, and we have escaped.”

Proverbs 27:8 – “Like a bird that strays from its nest is a man who strays from his home.”

Job 35:11 – “Who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth and makes us wiser than the birds of the air?”

Matthew 10:16 – “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves.”

Psalm 103:5 – “Who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”

Exodus 19:4 – “You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.”

Matthew 3:16 – “As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him.”

Luke 12:24 – “Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds!”

Job 12:7-10: But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee: Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee: and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee. Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the Lord hath wrought this? In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind.

Psalm 84:3: Yea, the sparrow hath found an house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even thine altars, O Lord of hosts, my King, and my God.

Song of Solomon 2:12 : “The flowers have appeared in the land; the season of singing has come, and the voice of the dove is heard in our land.”

Not All Things With Wings Are Birds

These Scriptures show how birds can be seen as examples of God’s providence and the beauty He has created. They also serve as a reminder to trust in God’s care for our own needs.

But not all winged creatures on God’s green earth are birds:

We are called to leave our old lives behind. Just as the butterfly leaves its broken cocoon behind, we are called to focus on our new life in Christ.

2 Corinthians 5:17: Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 

Ephesians 4:22-24: You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. 

Romans 12:2: Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. 

In Romans 12:2, even the word transformed comes from the Greek word metamorfos which means to change in form.

Sometimes insects are not presented in such a great light in the Bible, like locusts or hornets. Sometimes insects are a threat, but sometimes they are food or make food, like honey,

Jeremiah 32:22: “You gave them this land you had sworn to give their ancestors, a land flowing with milk and honey.”

Although I am very fascinated with birds (and some insects), my favorite of winged things are angels. I collect angel figurines, and there is at least one of them in every room in my house, not because I worship them or anything weird, but just because I believe they are watching over us. There is a picture that my daughter painted years ago hanging in my classroom every year. She has followed me from schools in Alabama to schools in Ohio. 

The Bible assures us that angels are all around, doing the business of the One in charge.

Matthew 18:10: Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.

Yes, things with wings are more diverse and beautiful than anything we can imagine.  Watch the sky, the trees, your heart; you will see!

God bless you, and may your heart take wings!