“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?”   (Matthew 6:26 ESV)

Jesus spoke these words to encourage his listeners not to stress and worry about acquiring the basic necessities of life such as food, clothing and shelter. The logic of the statement is that if God feeds the birds that are of lesser value, then surely he will provide for the needs of people who are of more value to him. Well, I’ve always looked at this statement and went on to the next verses, but a few days ago, I stopped and wondered: “How does God feed the birds?”

The birds don’t plant neither harvest crops, nor do they store food in barns, yet God feeds them! But exactly how does he do it? Well for one thing, he certainly hasn’t program worms to crawl up into the birds’ nest! No! And God does not directly feed the birds with a Divine bird feeder! But what he has done is pre-programmed the birds with the instincts to feed themselves! Birds instinctively know how to fly about and spot worms crawling around on the ground and they instinctively know how to sky-dive for fish swimming near the surface of lakes and streams! Now, working with the logic of Jesus’ statement from the lessor to the greater: Surely if God has pre-programmed birds and other animals with the instinctive knowledge and skills necessary for their survival, how much more has he already placed within us everything we need for our survival?

I would like to suggest that our key to success in life is not in someone we need to meet or in something we need to attain. Whatever we need; we already have it! God created and designed us at birth with a certain set of attributes, skills, gifts, talents, and abilities that guarantee our success in life! What we need is already within us! All we need to do is bring it out what God has placed within and develop it! Therefore, the final and greatest frontier is not really outer-space; it is inner-space!

Our success is within us! But we need to understand that real success has nothing to do with having a lot of money, being famous, or even having the admiration of people. Real success is being the person we were created and designed to be! It’s not real success to be a successful lawyer (according to society’s standards of success), when in fact, you were really born to be a doctor! Real success is fully developing what God has placed within so that we might fully be the person he created us to be!

So the look up, take a hint from the birds and be encouraged! If God feeds the birds by giving them the instinctive qualities that guarantee their survival, how much more has he given us the basic skills, attributes, and abilities needed to be successful at being the person he has created us to be!