Have you ever seen a bird asleep on its perch, yet never falling? How does it manage to do that? If I were to try to sleep sitting on a branch, I'd fall and break my silly neck. So, what's his secret?

The secret is in the tendons of the bird's legs. They are so constructed that, when the leg is bent at the knee, the claws contract and grip like a steel trap. The claws will not release until the knees are unbent again as the bird springs into flight. The bent knee gives the bird the ability to hold onto his perch so securely.

What a marvelous design! But really, not so different from our own. When our perch in this life is precarious, the greatest security, the greatest source of stability, comes to us also from a bent knee. When we must keep our grip on reality, when we must ride the storms of life on what appears to be a frail, quaking perch, there is no better place to go than to our knees--in prayer.--Psalm 34:15-18

--Harvest Field of the Dakotas, Jack Outhier, Editor