H is for Hummingbird

What does H stand for?

H is still with me.

Over a year ago, one of my dearest friends in the world went to be with Jesus. I often referenced her as H. She was an amazing friend from the time I was 18. We connected on so many levels. When I reflect on her life, I recall all the times she was there for others, and myself. She was brilliant, compassionate, brutally honest, and love. She also believed wholeheartedly in Jesus, and that she was going to heaven when she died. She was not afraid to die. We had several discussions about death throughout our friendship and near the end of her life.

Yesterday morning, I was having a morning. I was forcing myself to go out and tackle a daunting task, the yard. My mind was cycling through large scale topics that I like to ponder for my Jillatte. However, I was stumped again at the vast concept that before everything, there was God. God has always been from the very beginning. This is a concept that is hard to wrap your head around. It is a concept that requires FAITH of vast proportions. "Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what is visible." -Hebrews 11: 1-3

God even sent His Son, Jesus to earth for some to witness. And though we did not see Jesus and witness His miracles, others did. And those who witnessed them took the time to write down countless accounts from Jesus' time on earth, so that all the generations to come could learn about Him. We must rely on faith to believe all that was written about Jesus and His life.

The amazing thing about yesterday was when I was pondering this faith requiring concept, I had a brief thought to myself, it would be so cool to see a hummingbird today, and then I would know that H is in heaven with God. Then I headed out the door to tackle weeds, trimming, dirt shifting, transplanting and watering.

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A little aside about Heather and my hummingbird sightings this year, I have never seen so many hummingbirds in all the days of my life, as I have this year. I think of H as a hummingbird, because she was small, mighty, determined, elegant, and graceful. She was also the ACC diver of the year her senior year in college. And our friendship began on a pool deck, around a vast amount of water.

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What I experienced yesterday was literally out of a Disney movie. It was absolutely hard for me to grasp, and I was the witness, the bystander. After, I had done all the hard work, I grabbed the water hose, and started to water the plants I had moved to a new home in the yard. After watering the plants close to the house, I turned toward the front of the yard to water the gardenia that I had moved near the bench. The water was spraying and misting a smooth fountain over the newly placed plant. And in a flash, three feet in front of me, a hummingbird appeared. She seemed to stay floating in place, her wings a blur. Did I mention that she was directly in front of me about the height of my heart. If I had counted the seconds I'm not sure what they would have totaled, but it felt like at least a minute. After that she turned and landed on the tall azalea bush next to me, but still in front of me. She sat with me, briefly. Then she hovered around the same bush, dipping her beak into the leaves. There were no flowers. She then flew back over to the water spray, like she was playing. She literally did this dance for what seemed like 5 minutes. I am not exaggerating. It was long enough for me to be in awe, have tears form in my eyes, and begin praising God for this gift. When she left my side, she flew up and sat on the Oak tree, about 10 feet in front of me, high in the branches for a short rest. And then in a flash, she flew off heading in the right direction.

What a complete gift. I know that this was from God. The God who knows our thoughts, who knows the numbers of hairs on our head, and who knows our heart. I'm not sure who will receive this the same way that I did, but He does want us to share our awe inspiring stories and our miracles. He longs for all of us to receive Him, and believe in His goodness. (Read John 20: 24-28) I hope you will be blessed today, as I have been from this visit.

"You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar." -Psalm 139:2