The Lessons of the Birds

But ask the animals, and they will teach you,
    the birds of the air, and they will tell you;
8 ask the plants of the earth, and they will teach you,
    and the fish of the sea will declare to you.
9 Who among all these does not know
    that the hand of the Lord has done this?
10 In his hand is the life of every living thing
    and the breath of every human being.

                                 Job 12:7-10

God of the sparrow God of the whale

God of the swirling stars

How does the creature say Awe

How does the creature say Praise

                    Voices United 229 vs 1

We keep our bird feeders up year round, adjusting the number and the food they contain according to the season. We're not quite up to a full complement yet but there are six out there now, and they are busy places. Most of our feeders are visible from our family room windows and when we have guests they often notice our avian companions and express their delight. Our elderly piano tuner was enchanted the last time he came to work on our even older musical instrument. 

Birds were often watched for divination in ancient times and an area established to view them was called a templum, giving us the word temple as a place of worship. In the bible there are lots of references to birds and Jesus invited us to consider birds as a model for living beyond anxiety. 

Jesus was on to something, as was supported by a recent Time article: 

Birdwatching—or even simply listening—can lead to an array of mental-health benefits in humans, including long-lasting stress relief. 

“The mental-health benefits are profound,” says [Joan] Strassmann, who’s the author of the new book Slow Birding: The Art and Science of Enjoying the Birds in Your Own Backyard. “Sitting outside and listening to the birds and getting to know their songs is really calming. And to me, the special thing about birds is that they can leave—they don’t have to be there, but they have chosen to be where you are, and at some point, they’ll move on.”

I like the notion that birds can be our teachers and that being in proximity to them can calm our spirits. The great migration of Autumn is essentially over now but it is a wonder, a seasonal miracle that billions of birds fly great distances, sometimes more than ten thousand kilometres on their twice-yearly pilgrimages -- or is that peregrinations? 

During Advent I'm sharing images of various pieces of art in our home. The photo above is of a needlework depiction of birds which often frequent our feeders which I've shared before. Nearly all these birds have showed up during the past couple of days. It was a gift from a woman in one congregation named Vicki who lived with a debilitating and life-altering illness. She struggled with anxiety and fear yet she had a sustaining Christian faith and was determined to continue her creativity in a variety of ways. This is immediately above my computer desk and I need to remind myself to pay attention to its beauty.