Spirit and My Winged Friends – A Reflection
The warblers are coming through now. Very hard to identify them all, even with field glasses and a bird book. (Have seen at least one that is definitely not in the bird book.) Watching one which I took to be a Tennessee warbler. A beautiful, neat, prim little thing—seeing this beautiful thing which people do not usually see, looking into this world of birds, which is not concerned with us or with our problems, I felt very close to God or felt religious anyway. Watching those birds was as food for meditation, or as mystical reading. Perhaps better. — A Search for Solitude: Pursuing the Monk’s True LifeThe Journals of Thomas Merton, Volume 3: 1952-1960
The warbler in the photo and I spent some time together this past summer while my dad was in rehab in Minnesota. It was one of those moments where I truly felt God’s presence as we walked this particular journey with him. I often feel Spirit’s presence when my feathered friends visit. Especially when our mother’s favorite birds, the Cardinals, visit us and share a love and peace with us which is a balm for our souls.
Pastor Michael Moore's Blog 
Reminds me of Wendell Berry’s wonderful poem, from his collection, Leavings. Number XVI in the 2005 Sabbath poems section. It begins “I am hardly an ornithologist,/ nevertheless I live among the birds/ and on the best days my mind/ is with them, partaking of their nature/ which is earthly and airy.” And offers, “What man can abide the rule/of ‘the market’ when he hears,/in his waking, in his sleep,/the sound of wings?”
awesome painting. blessings to both of you.