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Acts
17: 28
He is not far from each one of us. For “In him we live
and move and have our being”….
Cardinals, too
A cardinal lights on a
low branch of the bushes in front of the breezeway, seeking shelter from the
rain under the dense, green canopy. I didn’t recognize him at first, my
glasses being off as I read the morning paper.
But the distinctive spike at the back of his head soon gave him away.
A happy, noisy, red
bird came to visit me again. That’s been happening a lot lately. They seem more
plentiful this spring, and they never fail to bring a smile.
Today, he was in no
hurry to leave. The rain kept him near, five feet at the most, and no fear at
my presence distressed him as he waited out the drops, occasionally calling
out, ‘tuu, tuu, tuuuu." I echoed his
call with a breathy whistle which likely confused him. What could he possibly
make of a 187 pound cardinal whose call sounds, well, a little sick?
Then, silent as he
came, he flew off, leaving me a few degrees happier to have been visited by a
colorful guest who shared shelter from the rain with me.
Gratuitous is the word
that comes to mind. It was a little moment that is a gift, free, gratis; it
just came without any effort from me, waking my smile and reminding me that I
share this earth with wondrous creatures that delight my eye and gladden my heart.
Why should something so
small and inconsequential in the great sweep of time change my day, lighten my
heart and lift my vision toward greater expectations of the goodness of what
life brings?
Maybe it starts with a
simple faith, a fundamental trust in two things: first, that the wondrous
Source of this universe is beneficent, generous beyond any and all expectations;
and second that this mysterious Love is somehow present and sharing Love’s own
substance in every moment.
In him we live and move
and have our being. The One who is Love surrounds and inhabits us. Love is the substance of our being, of cardinals,
too.
Lovely when you are awaken enough to see it.
Pr. David L. Miller
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