I like birds. I feed and watch the birds in my yard, I go birdwatching -- by myself, or with my son Ben -- and I go on birdwatching walks led by experts. A few weeks ago I went kayaking with a friend and we saw a yellow crowned night heron and a great blue heron, up close and personal. They are big, beautiful birds, and though not rare, not entirely common either.
So I just put some bird seed down in my backyard, and within minutes a common house sparrow landed and began to eat. My dad used to feed the birds in our backyard growing up, and he would coo at them and talk to them. The scrub jays came right up and took peanuts out of his hand. He treated each one with tenderness. So when this sparrow landed in my yard I thought, don't disparage the sparrows. It's so easy to disregard common one -- birds, even people. In the city we see hurting people all around us; it's common. And it becomes easy to disregard them. I pray that I w
ill not disparage the commonplace - whether they be birds or people. May I instead, notice the common ones and thank God for them.
Kayaking!!! :-)
ReplyDeleteyou can come feed the birds any time in my yard or just come and watch them. we put up a hummingbird feeder this summer and had some "God showed up" moments around those flitting hummingbirds. We were sitting on the porch one summer night, talking and praying, and wondering about God's presence (or lack thereof?) in a situation when all of a sudden this hummingbird 'showed up' as if God was saying, "I'm here, got it under control, my presence is all around you" and it was.
ReplyDeleteHi Sis, Beautiful sentiment and great writing. As you know, I too, love feeding the birds and since the pigeons came onto the scene, they get fed too. I welcome all creatures. Love, C
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