Time Out for Nature

Gladness of the heart is the life of man, and the joyfulness of a man prolongeth his days. – Apocrypha

This has been the most glorious spring within the memory of those of us who live at the Fellowship –– a veritable explosion of  color, flowers, and creatures feathered and furry. It’s as though Mother Nature were saying “I’ve had to visit Earth with a pestilence as a means of correcting many things that have grown out of balance, but if you will attend to these lovely signs of my deep concern and love for you, it can make the bearing of this time easier.”

A student in Northern California submits photos he takes of wildlife around his house to the local newspaper. He is kind enough to share them with us, and writes:

“Here is a bobcat , seen through my office window. This guy feels at home on our property and walkways. Pretty majestic in its natural surroundings.”

“I heard something banging against our bedroom wall and discovered this deer outside my window. He was eating an old tomato pant and his antlers were hitting the side of the house.”

A student in England writes:

We are lucky to have something of a nature reserve in our back garden, and are regularly visited by robins, jays, jackdaws, crows, wood pigeons, regular pigeons, blackbirds, woodpeckers, magpies, green parakeets, squirrels, foxes, and the neighbours’ cats that come to hunt for food even though they look very well fed already. It is interesting to see how confident and trusting the robins are, coming right up to me when I put seeds and nuts in the feeders, compared to the much larger but very scaredy-cat crows that fly away if one just looks at them!

I also see what appear to be group spirits in action: within minutes of one bird arriving at the feeding centre everyone else turns up, and we wonder who told them all that dinner was served. The foxes amaze me with their highly accusatory looks when we discourage them. They go to the far end of the garden, turn around and stare at us as if in utter disbelief, like “Why have you chased us away but do not ask the squirrels to leave? We are bright-eyed and bushy-tailed too, you know.”

One of our staff members writes:

“I was working outside on a pleasant morning filled with the sounds of songbirds and their still dependent fledglings communicating back and forth.

“Then I noticed these peaceful sounds morph into raucous ones. Soon, I saw it –– a juvenile hawk harassing the fledglings as their frantic parents relentlessly cried warnings and tried to drive it off.

“The hawk persisted for a while, but in time gave up and peace returned.

“I’m always awed by the bravery of such small, seemingly defenseless songbird parents who risk their own lives defending their young from much larger predators.”

May you each be comforted by Nature’s healing touch during these unusual times as we seek to find the balance between maintaining our health and moving ahead with our chosen work and purpose.

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