More Valuable Than Birds

{A bird I saw in Costa Rica two summers ago}

Right now I am buried under a pile of kleenex and sipping tea like it's cocaine (FYI I've never tried drugs).  I've come down with a cold:  a sinus infection I suspect.  First of all, I've gotta brag on my beloved.  Phil is off working a 10 hour shift at a daycare (so you know he's working hard) and he still took the time to text to make sure I'd eaten something and taken some dayquil and to tell me to get better and that he loves me.  Class A, people.  Anywho, I wanted to take a minute to share something sweet that happened last week.  It feels like money is always a stressor around here.  I mean, we are shelling it out to go to college and working minimum wage jobs, whilst heavily relying on Financial Aid so it makes sense.  It's worse right now though because 1.  We have no financial aid for the summer.  2.  We mixed up our budget because we didn't take that into account so we wound up being a couple hundred dollars short of what our budget said we had.  3.  We are moving end of June (we both got placed in Clarkston for student teaching so we decided to relocate there) so we need to put down a deposit.  We were really stressed at first and thinking it was impossible.  Then we started to calm down and trust that it would work out.  We began taking money from places in the budget where we thought we could spare to make up the gap.  Completely unexpectedly, Phil got a pay check from work for $350.  It turns out he gets paid every two weeks rather than monthly.  The deposit plus credit check for the new apartment is $335.  We were praising God for being such a great provider.  Then we got home and found our tax refund in the mail!  We had not only enough to cover the gap in our budget, but enough to tuck some money away in savings.  I've noticed that God usually provides instantly as soon as we slow down and trust him.  I think it's because he cares more about the condition of our hearts than our physical well-being--though he obviously cares about that too.  I think it all comes back to this:

Matthew 6:25-34

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? ²⁶  Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? ²⁷ And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?^[a] 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, ²⁹ yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ³⁰ But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? ³¹ Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. ³³ But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

³⁴  “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."