I've been feeling the empty places lately.  The places I've longed for someone to stand up and cheer me on.  The places were I want to feel beautiful and fulfilled, you know as a mom, homemaker, friend, artist, daughter.  God sees me that way, Beautiful and Fulfilled, but I've been feeling more like a grey moth, common and unremarkable. 

I was praying for the little Sunday morning kids last night and God gave me this picture for myself.  My heart was a little birdcage filled with frantic birds trying to get out.  It was exactly what I've been feeling, a fluttering panic in my heart.  Like a flock of wild doves caught in a cage.  Each pulse of delicate wing asking   Why am I trapped in this small place?  Where is my blue sky?  Their song becomes clipped and frantic jumble.  Wings beating against the bars ache to fulfill their purpose and instead make an ugly jumble of striving.

God said, "Those birds are your cares.  You have forgotten to let them go."  So I smiled and took each one from the cage into my hand and freed it.  They each flew to God.  My Cares are not for me to hold as pets, but for releasing to God, He waits to care of each precious one.  

1st Peter5: 7"Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you."