Are you hungry for God?

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Matthew 5:6

My son found a nest of baby birds today, so of course we all trouped outside with cameras in tow to document the excitement.  I was unprepared to see four weak, pitiful birds barely covered with fuzz.  They all slept soundly and hardly appeared to have any life in them.  But the instant they felt our presence as we leaned in for photos, all four bolted straight up from a dead sleep, stretching their scrawny necks to the limit with their beaks spread open to their full width.  Seeking, searching for sustenance.  And not only searching, but waiting, waiting… never closing those beaks until the nourishment they anticipated was placed inside.
I was struck then by how deeply they hungered, and how earnestly they sought nourishment, and how persistently they trusted their caregiver to provide what they needed…and so they never lowered their heads, never closed their beaks, never doubted they would be filled.  That’s when we saw the mama bird circling over us with a worm in her beak, waiting until we moved away from her babies so she could feed them.  They, who so greatly hungered and trusted they would be fed.  She, who tirelessly and patiently refused to fail them in their hunger.

Then I thought of Matthew 5:6 and wondered if I have ever hungered after righteousness and the things of God as purely and with as much trust as these tiny birds who’ve barely begun life.  That’s the kind of hunger I want to always feel in my soul, and the kind of pure faith I want to carry in my gut…knowing without a doubt that my Provider will always fill that hunger.
For what do you hunger?  To whom do you look for sustenance?

Deb