Monday, October 29, 2007

A Joyful Sound

I went out on my front porch this morning, resolved to be more consistent in my devotions. I sat in the sun, pulled my jacket tight because the frost was still on the grass, and then grimaced because the forester was in the woods, his chain saw bzzzt-ing and his bulldozer roaring. I tried to focus, reminding myself not my woods, trying to believe not my life, but yours Lord.

And then something amazing happened. A flock of birds landed in the trees on the corner of my property...so many and so raucous that I couldn't hear the buzz of the chainsaw. They were smallish birds, black as far as I could see, with a song only a half-step away from a cackle. But it didn't matter because they were loud and joyful and they filled the trees so that the leaves crackled in tune with their song.

I tried to make out what they were but the sun was in my eyes. I didn't need to see because the power of Creation asserted itself in music far more powerful than my own little devotion or the forester's saw. BadCat came running and cowered behind me...even in her evil ways, she recognized a power she couldn't scratch or bite.

As if to multiply the blessing, the flock came down from the trees and spread themselves out before me on my front lawn. Nondescript black birds, maybe smaller than robins, with a high-pitched tweet tweet. Singly, I wouldn't have noticed them but as a flock...a body, perhaps one could say...they formed a joyous congregation. Surely they're migrating and hence the stop to pick through my grass for a little nourishment. I love that they are fulfilling God's plan for them, and doing it with a roar!

They're gone now but their song lingers...as does my smile.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

how cool, Kathy, today's picture on my blog is of my son chasing a migrating flock of blackbirds. Soemtimes you have to chase the flock, the dream, God and soemtimes you have to listen.

Anonymous said...

Your experience is reminiscent of the Lord's feeding Elijah with the ravens. Except much more pleasant! I especially like their drowning out the forester's noises.

My elderly Lady was reveling in half a long-dead rabbit this morning. I kept thinking, as I forced myself to collect and remove the residue, that I SO hope it was both long-dead and halved before she found it!

Bonnie S. Calhoun said...

They sound like grackles on their way south for the winter. With the drought going on in many southern states, the pickings might be slim down there!

But then I remember the verse where it says God takes care of the birds, so why do we think He won't take care of us?

What we can see in the natural, is never the truth in God's supernatural. That is a fact we have to rest in.

Pam Halter said...

Me, I would have immediately thought of Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds. HA! Yours is a more pleasant picture. Of course, my daughter just read the short story and we watched the movie to see the differences in both, so it's more prevelant in my mind right now.