Today, a chickadee was sitting on my back deck. It was singing so loudly that I heard it from my office (at the front of the house). I got up and went to look for it. I thought I either left the door open or that it may have gotten in the house. But there it sat, this tiny little thing, belting out its tune. It was close enough to the door that I could see its beak wide open as it sang. I couldn’t help but think that it was singing in praise of its Creator.

Maybe in its own way, the chickadee was singing,

“There is a name I love to hear,
I love to sing its worth;
It sounds like music in mine ear,
The sweetest name on earth…

Or maybe the song was,

“O, Lord, My God, when I in awesome wonder
Consider all the worlds Thy hands have made
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy power throughout, the universe displayed
Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to thee
How great Thou Art, How great Thou Art!”

Or maybe it was a new song uniquely created for its Master.

It gave me pause to think.

1 Chronicles 16:23 says, “Sing to the Lord, all the earth; Proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day.”

But let me just admit it. I am terrible at this. It’s not that I don’t enjoy singing. I do, but it’s the second part of the verse that’s convicting.

I have no problem singing along in worship on Sunday morning. Sometimes I even sing along with the Christian radio station during my commute. But, in general, I am failing at proclaiming the “good news of salvation” every day. In fact, some days, if you had to guess by my demeanor, you’d say I don’t even know the Good News.

So, this is my prayer tonight. “Lord, help me to be so full of You, that Your joy comes spilling out of me on a daily basis. Help me to be so full of the Good News that I can’t help but demonstrate it with my life (and my face) as well as my words. Help me, God, to always have a song on my tongue and more importantly in my heart. Help me to be like the chickadee, singing for the world to hear, praising my Creator and Lord.”

The first tune, “Oh, How I Love Jesus” was written by Frederick Whitfield.

The second tune, “How Great Thou Art!” was written by Stuart K. Hine.