From Worry to Song: Finding Our Branch
Last year, I painted three birds sitting beneath a tree, each caught up in its own world of worries. Today, I imagine them somewhere else. What if the worries that keep us beneath the tree today could become the song we sing from its branches tomorrow?
This morning, I felt inspired to share something about the artistic process behind my painting The Right Place, which I created last year. There were so many things I could share about it that I decided to ask a couple of friends what they thought I should write about. I was surprised by how much their suggestions resonated with my creative process at the time and by how universal the experience of anxiety really is.
Sometimes, I see a painting in a dream, and that dream becomes the inspiration for creating something similar. That was the case with this painting. In my dream, I saw three birds beneath a tree rather than perched on a branch or flying together. They were all beneath the same tree, yet each seemed caught up in its own world of worries. As I began to paint, the birds took on faces and became three friends, each in a place where they belonged.
At the time, I was processing some of my own worries. As time passed, however, my perspective on those worries began to change. Through painting and prayer, something shifted within me. The process eventually led to an image of three birds sitting together in harmony. Interestingly, the painting was intended for my friend's granddaughter, whose name is Harmony.
This morning, when I asked another friend what I should write about in today's blog post, he shared his desire to find a painting to purchase that would depict Matthew 6:26–27. In these verses, Jesus invites us to look at the birds of the air and learn from them—not to live consumed by anxiety, but to recognize the care of God and the value He has placed in His creation.
“Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?”— Matthew 6:26–27 (NIV)
Being reminded of this passage brought me back to the worries my friends and I shared last year. I thought about how those situations eventually unfolded and how different they look from the perspective of time. Some of the things that once felt so overwhelming now seem much smaller.
This reflection helped me imagine my painting in a new way. What if the three birds were no longer beneath the tree, weighed down by their worries, but sitting on a branch, singing?
If I were to paint The Right Place today, I would keep the three birds together in the same place of belonging, but I would change their location. I would paint them on a branch, singing.
Not because their worries had necessarily disappeared, but because their attention had shifted. Instead of focusing only on their problems, they would be expressing the gifts they had been given. The birds have their voices, their own instruments through which they can sing and praise God.
Perhaps finding our place of belonging is not always about changing our circumstances. Sometimes, it is about changing our perspective and discovering what has been placed within us, even while we are still facing uncertainty.
As you begin your day, I invite you to reflect on this passage from Matthew and consider your own place of belonging. What worries are you carrying today? Which anxieties do you share with the people around you?
And what if you didn't have to wait until next year to see your current worries differently?
What if, instead, you could climb onto the branch today—not because everything is resolved, but because your worries do not have to be the only thing occupying your attention?
Perhaps you can begin to sing your way through them by reconnecting with what is good, meaningful, and life-giving in you.
What instrument—what gift or value—has God placed within you that can help you sing your way through your current worries?
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