Birds were a nuisance

As a child, I was attacked on a school trip by a flock of seagulls. Later on, while in the throes of worsening M.E, I was so desperate for rest that I disliked hearing birdsong because it felt like an unwanted interruption when I craved silence and sleep.

We lived in the city then, where birds were relatively scarce and it was rarer to hear the dawn chorus or evensong. Nevertheless, my exhausted body craved complete peace to help me relax, and the pigeons’ continual throaty cooing prevented it. 

Those thoughts turned themselves into a poem (as musings often do) which was added to my memoir style poetry book about seeking solace from life’s hardships.

A move altered my perspective 

Now we live in the countryside where we look out onto an orchard. We have abundant bird life, a variety of different feathered friends. The air is continually punctuated with birdsong in the spring and summer months. 

And I love it. Even though I cannot always identify the birds in question by their singing, I enjoy their presence and love listening to the distinctive sounds, the caws and chirrups, the trills, musical murmurings, and everything in-between.

My husband, indifferent to avian life in our city home, now points out the birds and listens to their songs. We’ve become bird lovers by default. Next stage will probably be buying a pair of binoculars and a book to help us identify the birds we encounter right on our doorstep!

This change in perspective was caused by an inevitable and unavoidable immersion in country chatterings. We share our space with creatures that have lived here far longer than we have. 

Seeing blessings in the new 

We can either resist and protest or seek the beauty and pleasures that exist when faced with the new and the next.

Thankfully, we are able to see the numerous blessings that have come our way since moving to a place that is better suited to our health and future care needs. 

There are also unanticipated benefits for our mental health. We have dear friends and neighbours here, whereas we felt more isolated where we lived before. 

We appreciate the seasons more and can sense the sacred beauty of each one. Birdsong is something we delight in, as is the appearance of squirrels, muntjacs and peacocks, despite their propensity to dig up the grounds or munch the plants! 

Each season of our lives acts as an invitation: Will we choose to appreciate all it might contain for us? Can we see the hidden blessings God strews along our paths? 

Although our days might be full of challenges, with chronic illnesses and pain, it helps to focus on the positive and all the blessings we have got rather than the negative and all we might have lost. 

Focusing on the positive

I’m grateful to be living where we are now, immersed in nature, listening to the ever-cheerful birdsong, and growing our own garden plants which add to the beauty of the grounds, while we sit indoors or outside, appreciating it all. 

However we might be situated, and whatever difficulties we might face in our lives, there is always hope to embrace when we trust in God’s love, His abundant goodness and grace. He can turn a difficulty into a delight, a nuisance into a joy.

The birds are teaching me these 7 spiritual truths:

  1. Life itself is a gift to celebrate 
  2. You matter and you belong
  3. Your unique voice, your song, is necessary and welcome 
  4. Praising God honours Him and blesses you too
  5. There are reasons to be cheerful no matter what you’re going through 
  6. You may feel small, insignificant or vulnerable, but God sees, loves, and takes care of you 
  7. You can trust God for every need you have, immediate or future

I’m grateful to have had my previously distorted perspective on avian life corrected, and I appreciate how blessed I am to sense holy joy encapsulated in nature and birdsong. Where are you sensing it, my friend?