Have you ever hung up a hummingbird feeder? Have you observed these lightning quick little creatures sipping the sweet nectar and then flying off to a nearby limb to guard the feeder from other birds? Have you ever seen a tiny hummingbird dive bomb another kind of bird who was also trying to take a sip of the sweet stuff?

The little hummingbird doesn’t know that the person who put up the feeder also has an unlimited supply of food so that however many birds may come, there will always be enough. Instead, the hummingbird worries and frets and spends needless energy warding off what he thinks are his competitors for food. Actually he could have done with a lot less nectar himself if he hadn’t burnt up so much energy protecting his supply from those he thought were his enemies.

Can we see ourselves in this? How much energy do we spend protecting what we have instead of sharing it with others? We, like the hummingbird, fail to realize that there is an unlimited supply of all that we need. Our Heavenly Father is able ”to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.” Actually God issues us a challenge saying, ”Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.”

How much fuller our lives can be once we recognize that all we have has come from God and He is not only able but willing to open the very windows of heaven to pour out blessings upon us. We think lack instead of plenty, we think we must conserve, and store and hoard instead of giving. Jesus says, ”Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom.”

We think how foolish is the little hummingbird yet he is more justified in behaving as he does than we are, for he does not have the advantage of hearing God say that He will provide.

When Jesus says, ”give” what is it we are to give? Our money? Yes, God gave it to us in the first place and He’s watching to see if we regard our assets as ”all mine” or ”His” lent to us to provide for our necessities. But when Jesus says ”give” it is not limited to money. Some who are rich can give huge sums and never feel it as Jesus pointed out in the story of the widow’s mite. He wants not just our money, but us. He wants us to give of our time, He wants us to present our bodies as a living sacrifice, and this means much more than just money. Let’s try giving ourselves away in His service, thinking of things to do, for Him.

Jesus said, ”He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.” Let’s try losing ourselves in service to Him, forgetting what we want and what we have and begin to give of ourselves and of our substance to Him. It has to be experienced to be believed. Some will never experience it because they are like the little hummingbird, spending all their time protecting what they think is theirs, but what wonderful blessing is in store for those willing to give, to really give, not just of our surplus but of ourselves. Truly Jesus was right when He said, ”It is more blessed to give than to receive.”