"Do you like surprises?"

I looked up from my computer and walked over to the office window and stared out over the backyard and into the woods for a few moments.

All of a sudden, something caught my attention. It was yellow and flashed down near our bird feeder. It looked like a leaf to me and I wondered, “What’s a leaf doing turning yellow and falling in the summer time.” But the “leaf” turned at a right angle and landed on the bird feeder. Turns out it was a yellow finch.

So I stood there, laughing at myself for my mistake. Then another yellow finch landed on the feeder. And another. And another. A total of five of them descended on the feeder. It was a real treat for me to stand there and watch them flitting about the feeder, their brilliant yellow color lighting up against the green backdrop of the yard. I don’t get to see one of those birds very often, much less five of them.

When something happens, we usually fit it into our normal patterns like I did with the leaf. But there are surprises waiting for us daily, delightful serendipities God provides if we listen to life and make a life!