August 8, 2026 Differences

The second set of baby barn swallows hatched out on our back porch and are about to leave the nest. The nest is tiny and they have been stacked on top of each other with their mother. Close quarters for sure. Too close!

Have you ever looked around your own family and wondered how people so different could come from the same nest?

It’s amazing, isn’t it. Almost alarming!
The quiet one.
The questioning one.
The strong one.
The sensitive soul.
Different dreams, different dispositions, different ways of seeing the very same day.

Yet God gathers us.

“Even a sparrow finds a home, and a swallow, a nest for herself where she places her young – near Your altars…” Psalm 84:3 HCSB

Maybe the deepest part isn’t that the sparrow found a nest.
It’s where she found it.
Near God.

Because closeness to Christ doesn’t require sameness. It teaches us how to stay tender when differences tempt us to divide.

The sparrow sings.
The coyote calls.
The swallow settles.
Each was created differently, yet we all live beneath the same sky.

And … peace actually begins when we stop asking everyone to be more like us … and together, draw nearer to Him.

Into God’s own nest
Into His heart.
Into Him. Mmm.
‘Father, help me to love our differences like You do. Especially in our family.’

In His Love and Light,
Angie