Hummingbirds . . . every spring like clockwork, they reappear . . . little green jewels buzzing past our heads as we walk through the garden!  Each year at the end of April, they make their way back to our yards.  Tiny symbols of hope of good things to come.  We can know without a doubt that no matter what happens throughout the winter, they will suddenly reappear just like always every Spring to spend the next several months buzzing from flower to flower, eating to their heart’s content.    

Hummingbirds really are an amazing example of God's creation!  They are little flying balls of energy . . . flapping their wings anywhere from 50-80 times per SECOND.  Their tiny hearts beat 1200 times in a minute!  They use so much energy that they must consume one half of their body weight in sugar daily to survive.  To give you an idea of how much the little birds need to eat - it would be equivalent of a human having to eat 1300 hamburgers and drinking sixteen gallons of water each day just to survive!  These little jewels need to eat so much that they would starve overnight if they slept in a normal way, so God designed them to sleep in a state called torpor which is like a mini hibernation that conserves energy.  Thinking about how amazing hummingbirds are reminds me of the scripture we read in Matthew 19:26:  Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."   

The most amazing part of ruby-throated hummingbirds (the type of hummingbirds we have in our area) is their migration.  They spend their winters in Central America before they migrate back north for breeding season.  Before these tiny birds show back up in our yards, they must fly over 500 miles non-stop across the Gulf of Mexico!  It takes them twenty-plus hours to make the flight across the gulf.  This is a remarkable feat for a bird that normally must eat five to eight times an hour in order to not starve.  Somehow, they do the impossible and make it twenty-plus hours flying nonstop without food.  Each bird flies alone (somehow just knowing the path - not guided by parents) and follows the same path year after year back to the same location where it bred previously.  The birds we see each year are most likely the same ones that came to visit us the year before! "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible!"

How these birds can even survive daily is beyond our comprehension - near less how they can migrate thousands of miles from Central America to our backyard here in Indiana to return each Spring.  How can they fly 500 miles nonstop across the gulf when normally they must stop and eat at least 100 times in that time frame or they die?  "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible!"

After a long winter of cold and snow and darkness, we can look forward to that day when we know our tiny friends will return.  They bring with them a hope that sunny days, warmer temps, and beautiful flowers are on their way.  They are a sign that the darkness of winter is creeping away, and the light of summer is almost here.  Hummingbirds remind us how they conquer hard things . . . seemingly impossible things . . . to make their way back to us each year.  "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible!" 

Let’s think back to a familiar Bible story . . . the story of David and Goliath.  David was seemingly so small - and Goliath was so big - but somehow, with God's help, David was able to bring Goliath down.  Just like how our tiny hummingbirds can conquer migration . . . David conquered that giant.  And with the fall of that giant, follows the greatest story of all time when several generations down David's line, a tiny baby, named Jesus was brought into this world.  God's son on earth to live with us as a man!  And then one sad day, Jesus was crucified on the cross.  All was dark and cold, and the world seemed lost.  But then . . . the impossible happened . . . after three days Jesus rose from the dead to save us from our sins.  How did that tiny baby in a manger just save all of us?  "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible!"   

Sometimes our world seems dark.  Sometimes our situations seem bleak.  We don’t understand why people get sick or why loved ones die.  We don't understand why people lose jobs.  Sometimes we just have a bad day.  Sometimes the world just feels dark and lost.  Sometimes our lives feel like winter when the sun seems so far away and the cold will last forever.  But then . . . we hear a buzz and feel a slight breeze flight by our ears and there is a hummingbird, coming to say: “Spring is here . . . hope is here . . . hang on my friend!”  And we can smile, and remind ourselves, while all of this seems totally impossible to survive . . . "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible!”   

 And we wait, with hope, to see what God has planned next.   

April Raver, Lakeview Wesleyan Church Member