28 September 2007

call me crazy?

The Prayer of Saint Francis
"O Lord, make me an instrument of Thy Peace!
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is discord, harmony;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light, and
Where there is sorrow, joy.
Oh Divine Master, grant that I may not
so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand; to be loved
as to love; for it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life."


I've been reading a GK Chesterton biography of St Francis of Assisi for class. Chesterton's language mixes metaphor and poetic prose to describe this free-spirited saint. And I've been delighted in the subject and the author's style.
One of the things attributed to St Francis is his love for an engagement with animals and nature. I've seen drawings of him surrounded by a halo of birds, for instance, as one acknowledgment of this part of his life and love.
So here's a little thing that happened to me.
When I first started reading Chesterton’s book a few weeks ago, I was sitting in my living room, overlooking a patio where I have a small bird feeder hanging between several windows. I see a few birds there--a couple varieties usually. I delight in the close observation through the window where they are not distracted by my presence.

This day was completely different. Never have I witnessed more birds. I watched them flying to my patio like planes approaching O’Hare. They lined my bushes and my patio. They flew to the available perches on the feeder, and when not available, seemed to communicate to the feeding birds, “hey, if you didn’t notice, there’s a lot of us waiting down here,” to no avail as the birds on the perches seemed neither concerned nor hurried in their eating. It was amazing to see all those birds at one time. I return, nearly daily, to that spot to read, do my quiet time, or just look out. And I’ve never seen that number again. I don't think it was a coincidence.

What do you think?

2 comments:

Jewels said...

Maybe that was designed to make you believe his life was for real!

Anonymous said...

I LOVE birds!!!!!