Gladden Our Spirits

One afternoon something flitting around the bushes caught my eye. She was tiny and quick. Put your pointer finger and thumb together and she could have fit in the middle, her legs thinner than toothpicks. Wisps really. Her hopping like a falling leaf and her sweet olive green complexion to match gave her away. As rapid as her movements were, her presence was gentle, calming, heart-warming.

I had never seen a ruby-crowned kinglet before. I didn’t even know they existed, but there she was a beautiful gift on a cold winter’s day.

She’s come to see me each winter for the last several years now, and I find myself waiting and hoping each time for her return. Happy to see her each year and breathing a sigh of relief when I do, I wondered if I would ever meet her boyfriend, that ruby-crowned fellow.

Over Christmas, while visiting my parents house, I noticed a certain familiar hippity hop in the bushes. “Hello,” I said. “Who do we have here?” I bent down slowly to take a peek and there he was getting a good looksee at me, too, a little ruby-crowned kinglet himself! I about fell over in surprise and excitement at which point he promptly said good bye, and I ran off practically skipping towards the house with childlike delight to tell my parents and sisters.

That wasn’t the end of my creative Christmas gifts for the year. After returning home after our family visit, I was making trips back and forth to the car. As I paused to catch my breath, I noticed a flit and flutter to my right. I couldn’t believe my eyes: three eastern bluebirds in my yard. A first for my home and aptly named the birds of happiness, they filled my heart with such joy.

And today, after weeks and months of good but hard work and in desperate need of sunshine and repose, I caught a true glimpse of beauty as I glanced out the window to see not one but two rose-breasted grosbeaks at our feeders. One even shone brightly with the shape of a heart on his chest.

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” (Matthew 6:25-27, New International Version NIV)

Oh, God, you catch our eyes just when we need you to and you capture our imagination and gladden our spirits. Many thanks for flashing that beauty at us and reminding us to take a minute to breathe and to enjoy this life we’ve been given, to let go of everything else and just marvel in your gift of life.

Take a moment not to worry. Look at a bird or close your eyes and listen for one. Both song and sight will help your heart take flight.

With love and light,

LT