Hello Forum Friends: this is a meditation I wrote for a Catholic Creative Group. Sorry it’s a bit long for our post a couple pages… As I started a project in our garage one afternoon, I was startled by an odd chirping, faint yet close. Thinking a stray bird was trapped or nesting behind the deep freeze, I took a look. Nothing. Again the chirp from the other side of the garage, still faint. Moving in that direction I stopped, struck by recognition. I knew this call, very distinct, chirpy but with a queer lifting lilt. Sure enough, there he was narfing on the peanut suet block hung from a post in our yard. His voice not his only unique feature, since the striking red head, sharp beak and size of the pileated woodpecker will catch every eye when in flight or when drilling on a tree. As I gazed in amusement, I could only think, My dear Lord - You crack me up. Pause for a moment and consider: How much our Father in heaven must have loved, must have enjoyed and must have delighted in creating His many varieties and species of birds. Have you ever driven past an empty field on a wintry February Pennsylvania morning, surprised to see it covered in white since there has been no snow? Only to watch acres and acres of fluffy white, lift into the sky as thousands and thousands of Snow geese take flight, whirling in a unison of pirouettes and curlicues in perfect synchronicity before settling down again in their field of plenty? Your breath will stop as you watch their aerial ballet arrayed in white against the steel gray skies. They are migrating to their summer home in Canada from the warmer climes of Mexico and this is just a brief visitation of beauty before they continue on their journey. Our Father in heaven had this moment of awe and beauty planned for you, before time began. Fierce hawks soaring over fields looking for a nibbly mouse for lunch or the darksome, sinister vulture clans wheeling as they spy an easier meal. My husband and I once saw the magnificent condors flying off the cliffs of Carmel on the California Coast. Never to be forgotten those enormous wings, yet graceful movement as they glide in slow circles. You will stand in awe and watch speechless. Job 39:27-29 “Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up And makes his nest on high? “On the cliff he dwells and lodges, Upon the rocky crag, an inaccessible place. “From there he spies out food; His eyes see it from afar. Contemplate with me, the multitude of birds our Lord designed in a bounty of color and song to captivate and enchant us. Peacocks with spectacular blends of jeweled and glittering blue and green feathers fanning in ostentatious display and the many parrots and toucans with their rainbow plumage reminding us of tropical jungles or the warm gentle breezes of Eden. Here in the Northeast, the small energetic bluebird is a happy harbinger of spring and the bright red cardinal is a messenger of love and solace to many during the cold, dark winter months. With their bright feathers of solitary color; both bring assurance of God’s love and encouragement to all who see them. One has to respect Geese! As I was running one day at a local park, I spied some geese up ahead on the trail near the pond. Knowing geese are feisty, I planned a large swoop off the trail to avoid getting too near. To my horror and dismay, as I changed course and left the path, a large white goose charged straight at me. My detour intended to avoid trouble with the geese was taking me directly into the path of their nest which I now saw was hidden in the rushes at the side of the path. Not good at all. Spinning quickly in retreat, I lost my footing in a patch of mud and went down sprawling and the male goose set upon me angrily squawking and pecking. With my usual quick thinking and agility, I curled into a fetal position and began squawking: eek, eek, eek, eek. The goose became even more enraged and pecked my shoulder in umbrage. Realizing, the goose was not going to stop, I scrambled awkwardly to my feet and stumbled back up the path to recover my wits and breath. Geese: So protective, so quick to act, so watchful of their young, just as our Father in heaven watches over us. I’m sure Our Lord in heaven enjoyed watching my antics battling and losing to the vigilant goose who was protecting his nest. I know the old guy doing some early morning fishing on the other side of the pond was quite amused, laughing heartily as he gave me a friendly and mocking wave. Our new house came equipped with a very robust, predator tight hen house and we have plenty of outdoor space. My husband and I decided to experiment with getting a few chickens. After reading up on how to care for a backyard chicken flock and consulting my in-laws who have raised chickens for many years, I made a foray to the local farm store determined to buy whatever breed of chicks they might have on hand. I came home with a mix of ten Starlight Green Eggers and Cinnamon Reds. The internet, the source of all knowledge, said they were friendly, good free rangers and consistent layers of green and brown eggs. I kept them in the garage in a small chick pen with a heat plate. My chicken book said it was important to move slowly around the chicks to keep them calm and to handle them frequently to establish trust and familiarity. I was never able to actually catch one to establish my chicken human bond and it was several weeks before I realized I had eleven chicks not ten. I also discovered trust was much more easily established by feeding them scratch grains from the palm of my hand rather than trying to pick them up. When they were able to keep warm on their own without the heat plate, it was time to take them to live in the kitchen coop and introduce them to their new home. My husband had stretched a couple of tree branches across the coop as a roost. Food, water and a snug roost and they settled into their new home quickly. As they grew, I noticed two of my birds had distinct and colorful feathers compared to the other eight. They were also much faster and tended to boss the remaining pullets around s well as squabble with each other. I soon learned the sexing of chicks is not entirely accurate and I confirmed these two were roosters when they began to crow. Although I was a little concerned about safety, the chicks were getting tired of their enclosed run and it was time to let them free range. My chicken books and my expert in-laws claimed that chickens return to their roost on their own at dusk. My chickens plus two were pretty young and I wasn’t sure how all of this roosting at dusk worked. When was dusk anyway? In the early evening, I would make my way up to the henhouse, with a cold beer and my latest book and take a seat in my lawn chair and watch as my girls and boys would cluck and run and scratch and explore. Listening to their peaceful clucking and cooing I often thought our Blessed Mother in Nazareth must have kept birds of some kind and Jesus must have grown up caring for them. The internet the source of all knowledge relates only legends of our Lady with song birds. But I recall Jesus’s lament over Jerusalem: 37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killing the prophets and stoning those who are sent to you! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not! Surely Jesus had personal experience of chickens and their habits to make such a complaint. I will leave you with one final bird tale. I started to have second thoughts about my inspiration to commit my bird meditations to paper and share my work with my creative writing friends. Maybe I had been too quick to assume my motive was a laudable desire to share my gratitude and awe of God’s marvelous creations with others? Maybe instead it was only vanity and a need to show off, I mused as I pushed my cart down the coffee aisle at Walmart. Suddenly from the bottom shelf among the Folgers cans, a flutter, a burst of flight, a sparrow takes wing before my eyes and flits over the shelves into the rafters and is lost to sight. Lord, my God, All praise, glory and honor to you. But You do crack me up. Who does stuff like this? Let’s look at what Jesus says in Matthew: Mathew 10:29 -31 Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s knowledge. Even all the hairs of your head are counted. So do not be afraid: you are worth more than many sparrows. Before time began, before He spoke and creation came into being, this moment with all my thoughts and doubts, this Walmart in Pennsylvania, this sparrow hidden among the coffee cans; All was ordained by our good and gracious God and Father. I have no words, no breath, only awe and thanksgiving.
Look at the birds. They don't plant, harvest, or save food in barns, but your heavenly Father feeds them. Don't you know you are worth much more than they are? Matthew 6:26-34
I don't think an angry goose would have much chance against my big dog. We have Canadian geese in my local park, they fly right over the Atlantic to Ireland to avoid the winter over there. I think its nearly time for them all to fly back home again. I was out walking the dog very early the other morning and I heard sqacking high , high above me in the sky. Pehraps it was them. One of the saddest stories in Irish Mythology is the story of the Seven Children of Lir. King Lir had seven children and when their Mother died Lir married a woman who happened to be a witch. The stepmother turned the poor children into seven swans who flew all around Ireland until St Patrick came and blessed them and they turned back into humans again and died.
Hi Mary, I found your meditation beautiful and so well written; your humble gaze at Gods splendour in His magnificent creation of birds, invites us all to sit and be with Him in our everyday life. God surrounds us with His Love, through His creation and we often take these things for granted, . A profound meditation on Gods Love. Thank you for sharing.
Agree. I enjoyed it very much. I am terrified of geese LOL. A friend has some geese and they are better watch dogs than the most vicious dogs! And--one of the chief delights in life is the return of songbirds when the snows begin to go. I love waking to their chorus at dawn.
I was thinking I may do another one which includes the peacefulness of waking to bird song instead of alarm clocks!
