But we will bless the Lord from this time forth and for evermore. Praise the Lord. Psalm 115:18 KJV

A few weeks ago, we paid a man to cut the tree behind our house down to a smaller and more manageable size. Because of the small space between our home and the one behind us it had to be done, but the bare and stumpy looking limbs left behind were not so wonderful to look at. My original dismay was softened considerably yesterday when I went out to sit on our back porch and saw that the mockingbird who often chose to regularly visit our tree had come back. He was not at all disturbed by the changes to our poor tree. He just flew in, perched on one of the stumps and proceeded to sing his usual song!

I do not know what has been going on in your life during the pandemic but in mine it sometimes feels as if things have been ruthlessly chopped away just like what happened with our tree. Maybe my bird friend is teaching us all that God is still God and no matter what things look like we can sing. We can bless the Lord both in good times and in bad because He is worthy of praise. Even if we must perch on the stumpy branches left in our life to sing our melody, remember that God is listening. Just as He was the God of the pruning so He will also be the God of new life and we can praise Him because our tree will one day bud again and then flower and grow forevermore!