Beauty surrounds us, but we usually need to be walking in a garden to know it - Rumi
The kitchen windows offer a great vantage point to observe the birds in my garden going about their daily business. Provided I stand back from the window they take no notice. If, however, I move too close to the windows then they scatter to the safety of the nearby trees. They see a shadow, something that is unknown to them, something which frightens them. They don’t need to be afraid of me, I would not harm them; but they do not know that. It is their natural instinct to fly away when confronted with a perceived threat; even if there is much needed food to be had on the ground.
As I have said before, quoting St Francis, ‘nature is the first bible’ so that in those birds we can perhaps see ourselves. When faced with a threat, a shadow, something unknown, or perhaps something really terrifying we have the same flight or fight mechanism built in as they do. Yet sometimes those mechanisms do not seem to work. At that time we need to remember that God made us who we are and that He loves us unconditionally. God is there, waiting for us with open arms, we only need to call on Him. He will hear our cry and will respond; maybe not in the way we expect, but He will respond. Take heart from the words of the 23rd Psalm: 4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. (KJV) The important point I urge upon you is this: “I will fear no evil, for thou art with me”. The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews confirms this point quite clearly when he says: “... for he hath said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee” Hebrews 13:5. It is those words that we need to hold on to. God who created us always wants what is best for us. He is with us now and forever and will never leave nor forsake us. The birds of the garden may not be able to read the Bible or take comfort from it but we can and we must trust in the Lord.
1 Comment
Steve Givens
29/4/2019 03:46:16 pm
Beautiful image and lesson from the garden window...
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AuthorI am an Authorised Local Preacher in an Anglo Catholic parish church, in the Diocese of Essex UK Archives
February 2022
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