I hear the birdsong outside my window and wonder. It’s a three-part trilling I don’t recall hearing before. The song is too enticing to ignore. What if it’s a new bird I’ve never seen before?

I disengage from the electronic overlords and push back my chair. Peering around my curtains avails nothing so I sneak out onto my porch.

Mystery solved.

It’s my little friend, the Carolina wren. With several dozen song variations and a repertoire of calls, it’s no wonder he’s able to fool me every time!

Very few sounds fall between 2.5-5 kilohertz. Birdsong is one that does, and I am blessed to hear it.

I can remember when my dad started losing his earing. He said he didn’t mind as long as he could still hear the birds sing. The timbre of my voice often alluded him, but he could always hear the birds.

My ability to hear birdsong is a gift. A miracle really. It reminds me that there are many things we can’t hear, or don’t hear, or refuse to hear.

You’ve probably heard the famous question: If a tree falls in the woods and there is no one around to hear it, does it make a sound?

What about things that are declared but never spoken?

“The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, And night unto night reveals knowledge. There is no speech nor language Where their voice is not heard.” (Psa 19:1-3)

What do you hear when you stand under a night sky and gaze at the heavens?

The rhythms of the seasons, the tides, the sun and moon, do they speak to you?

When someone shouts out in anger, do we hear the pain or fear that lies beneath their words?

To all these things, are we listening without prejudice?

Again and again, Jesus said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!

“Clearly, He was referring to more than our physical ability to hear sounds.

If we are to truly “hear” what the Holy Spirit is teaching us we must, seek to understand the Gospel and aim to experience the Gospel by practicing what it teaches.

To do this we must engage our spiritual ears, not just our fleshly ones.

There are many sounds outside my windows. The cars racing by, a neighbor’s chainsaw, the distant hum of an airplane. Yet I hear something in the birdsong that doesn’t exist in the other sounds; my Father’s voice.

For in Creation, “His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead.”

“He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”