Birdwatching

 

I spent a few hours swotting up. I bought a pocket guide. A friend loaned me a beautiful coffee table book. I wanted to be able to identify the beautiful birds in our garden, and count them for the RSPB Great British Bird Watch.

I leapt out of bed at what I thought was 6.15 this morning, to get the hour done before cats and kids got on the move. My eyes had played tricks on me, though: the clock didn’t say 6.15 but 8.15, so within minutes of my count starting, I had a cat wanting out. Kids in the kitchen followed shortly thereafter.

Still, nothing deterred the birds from their frenzied feeding at the nuts and seeds. I was delighted to count three gorgeous woodpeckers: we see one quite frequently but I saw three at the same time. The blue tits, great tits, coal tits, chaffinches and sparrows all backed off whenever a woodpecker latched onto the feeder. When it flew off, four or five of the tiny songbirds took its place instantly.

I soon had Flick to help me keep the tally. We added a pigeon and several blackbirds. I think I saw three pied wagtails.

The earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof. Focusing on the beauty of a world unaware of climate change, unaware of covid-19, draws my gaze upwards and off the rutted paths we all tread just now. I never thought I might enjoy watching the birds as much as I am.

All Weathers

 

 

The heavy clouds can hold it in no longer, and the snow falls soft and wet onto the cold earth. It blurs the sharp edges of bare branches stretching upwards. It begins to blanket mouldy leaves on the grass, moss on the stone dykes, and green daffodils pressing upwards through the frozen earth.

A stillness hangs in the air.

Winter. Even in the depths of winter, there is beauty. I’ve heard it said that there is no bad weather, just bad clothing. A properly warm jacket; a seriously cosy sweater; long johns. Thermal socks. Waterproofs. When I had Dusty and was out walking her daily, I discovered to my surprise that every day had something in it to commend it, to admire, as long as I went out properly prepared, suitably dressed.

Spiritually, we can slide into wintry valleys. A stillness may seem to have fallen over us from heaven, a silence. God has provided spiritual clothing to help us weather the storms. In his word; in music; in prayer. He knits together all the covering we need.

May you be covered by His love today. May you lean in and shelter in the shadow of the almighty, allow yourself to be gathered into his arms. He cares for you.

In all weathers, in all conditions, He is sufficient.

In the Dark

 

‘Michele is in the dark,’ someone remarked as I joined in on a Zoom meeting.

True enough, I was sitting in the corner of my bedroom, with the only light source weak, and behind me. The other rooms were filled with family busy with many and varied activities. My bedroom has become my private space.

Dark though it is.

I’ve brought the bedside lamp beside me this morning, and as I prepare to Zoom in to my Bible study, I hope that illuminates me a little more. But the important thing is not seeing my face.

It’s seeing the face of God. As I prepare to click the link, I pray that through our sharing, through our praying, through our looking into the scripture, we will all be enlightened.

The light shines in the darkness and the darkness hasn’t overcome it. So thankful for the light of the world.

Leaning In

 

The hills around us are white with snow and the ice continues to extend its treacherously invisible fingers across steps and roads. I lift my eyes to the hills … knowing my help is in the name of the Lord. My mother’s favourite psalm.

What a comfort it is to know that she has such a powerful word to cling to during these lonely and isolating days. Confused by the invasiveness of the weekly Covid tests, her one consolation is the Lord. He is all she needs: it is me who needs to keep that in mind when I hear her distress on the phone.

‘Oh God, you are my God: earnestly I seek you, my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you in a dry and weary land where there is no water.’ My favourite psalm, a powerful encouragement when my sister died, and one I find myself leaning into now. I recommend it, for all those who are finding the dreary or anxious or grieving days long and empty, for all who feel they are in a dry and weary land without water.

I love that psalm because in it, David disciplines his thoughts to remember the love and past actions of God, to raise his voice to praise the glory of God, and to declare that ‘because your love is better than life, my lips will praise you’. ‘Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings.’

May we all shelter in the shadow of our loving Lord today, and raise our voices – however weak and warbly they may be – because God’s right hand upholds us.

Linger Listen and Watch

 

‘I often see willow warblers here,’ Hazel exclaimed enthusiastically. ‘Across the road, there are sometimes ospreys. Oh, do you hear the call of the buzzards?’

I had to admit it. I wouldn’t know a willow warbler if he warbled in my face. I wouldn’t recognise an osprey, and the word buzzard reminds me of a hunchbacked vulture in American cartoons.

This weekend, I hear, is specially set aside for UK residents to count the feathered friends in their gardens, identifying how many of each species they see. I would love to do that, but once I got past the woodpecker, blackbirds and blue tits, I would struggle to identify many others visiting our bird feeders.

‘I’ve got an app,’ she admitted. ‘Before lockdown, I didn’t have time to linger, to listen, and to watch.’

BL. Before Lockdown. AL. After Lockdown, we may be significantly changed people, if we are fortunate enough to have had the time and space to linger, listen and watch.

I think I’ll download that app, and have a go at identifying ‘our’ birds. Then, AL, perhaps I’ll have an opportunity to take a walk with one of the heroes of the pandemic – an NHS worker, a teacher, a home-schooling parent. I’m sure that the healing benefits many of us are finding in nature, will be efficacious for those who will stagger, exhausted, out of the demands of these dark days.

Don’t despise the days of small things, the Bible advises. God is speaking peace and beauty constantly through the detail and the glory of his world. May we emerge from Lockdown more attuned to the quiet knock of the Lord at the door of our hearts. May we attain a balance in our lives which frees us to take the time to invite Jesus in to sit and share supper with us. And with him as our dinner guest, may we be enriched as we linger, listen and watch.

Slippery Winter

 

We are having a very slippery winter.

Some stretches of field and park are smooth with ice and slippery as skating rinks. The danger is obvious and visible. But as we embark on daily walks, with our driveway and the road clear of ice, the temptation is to grow complacent, trusting in our own sure-footedness on textured surfaces.

A few hundred yards down the road, though, there is a notorious low spot which consistently floods, and has sat underwater now for several weeks. Alongside the flooded road, the verges crouch in shadow, frozen white with ice, the grass stiff and treacherous. Hidden dangers.

It is easy to set off confidently, trusting in my own sure steps and the clean surface. Easy to dismiss the possibility of suddenly reaching a patch of black or white ice underfoot, and the threat that comes with it.

As I walk into this new week, help me to trust not in my own eyes but in your guidance, God, so that my feet do not slip, my thoughts do not stray onto the iciness of negativity and fear, leading to brokenness and calamity. Even as I keep my eyes fixed on you, Lord, make me aware of potential pockets of ice which might undermine my well-being.

The world struggles to keep its footing during the deadly slipperiness of this pandemic. God encourages us in Psalm 91: ‘You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday.’

May we all dwell in the shelter of the Most High today, resting in the shadow of the Almighty, confident in him. A slippery winter can be a time of beauty, if approached with God.

Vaccine against Infection

 

News from Mom’s residence that dates are fixed now for immunisation. Protection for the vulnerable. I am grateful to God for the clever people who have worked so diligently to develop the variety of vaccines which are becoming available. I am grateful to God that little by little, society can become a safer place to be. The vaccines, I understand, don’t confer 100% immunity, but do give a high percentage of protection and even in cases where Covid does develop, they may be lighter than they would otherwise have been.

I’ve been looking at the letter to the church in Thyatira, written by Jesus through John and recorded in Revelation. It’s made me think about tolerance. It’s made me examine my own thoughts and attitudes and bring them to God, asking him to help me not to conform to the ways of the world but to be transformed by his Spirit. I think this requires constant vigilance and bringing everything to God, in prayer and in his Word.

We are embedded in the world, but we live as foreigners, the Bible says, whose citizenship is in the Kingdom of God. May his Word and his Spirit and the gathered wisdom of the saints in our churches keep us from diluting God’s standards. May his Word and his Spirit be for us a vaccine against infection from the world.