In my garden I have four rows of everbearing strawberries--a fact that evidently has been proclaimed from the housetops to all the robins, starlings, and brown thrashers in the neighborhood. They have been having a picnic! So I spent quite some time building a scarecrow from broomsticks, an old coat, a pair of trousers, and a white hat.

I was in for a surprise, for one morning soon afterward, a wise robin was perched on top of the hat and seemed to be singing at the top of his voice, "Free strawberries here!"

I saw two kinds of birds: wise ones and foolish ones. The foolish birds sat in the trees, afraid of the scarecrow. The wise birds knew that the scarecrow was simply an advertisement in disguise.

The Bible tells us about some wise and foolish people. Moses sent 12 spies to check out the Promised Land, a land of fabulous fruits and blessings. Ten of them feared the "scarecrows"--the giants and the walled cities. Two wise "birds," Caleb and Joshua, believed God had given them the land. They weren't fooled. They said, "Let us go up at once and take possession" (Num. 13:30).

God richly blesses those who live by faith and are not stopped by the scarecrows of doubt and fear.  — M.R. De Haan