Rat-a-Tat-Tat

Some of the woodpeckers in our neighborhood have decided the vent holes beneath our eaves are the perfect location for a new house. We’ve had one pesky fellow trying to widen the access to our attic.

We wouldn’t have known he was at work if he hadn’t decided to put his machine-gun beak into our bedroom wall. I leapt off the exercise bike, ran to the wall, and pounded—with both fists. Silence . . . for one whole minute. I had no sooner returned to cycling than he was back at work. This time I ran out of the room, down the stairs, and out through the back door. He fluttered calmly away and took a break on the oak down the hill. By the time I was back in the bedroom, he was back at the wall, probably laughing.

Such persistence!

He reminds me of the worries that can come rat-a-tatting at my mind, usually late at night. The doubts and fears flutter in, and I try to rat-a-tat some kind of solution. Then I remember: God is God, and I’m not. Which means I have a decision to make: keep rat-a-tatting, or let go and let God work.

When we find ourselves drilling our own holes through constant worry, we can cover those vulnerable places with prayer which redirects our thought processes and keeps us focused on Jesus. And in Philippians 4, God promises that when we release our worries and turn instead to prayer, he will give us his peace which will guard our hearts and minds from the anxieties that can be as persistent as a woodpecker.

Francine Rivers is a New York Times bestselling novelist who is thrilled to bring readers her first devotional, Earth Psalms: Reflections on How God Speaks through Nature (Tyndale). You can find her online at www.francinerivers.com.