Mr. FixIt and I have lazy mornings in the winter. We don’t have to hurry outside to mow or get the outdoor work done before the heat of the day. One or the other of us wakes up, and our movements awakens the other. We stretch and say our good mornings. We ask each other “How did you sleep?” Then we check to see what the temperature is outside. What is the day going to look like? Do we have anything on our schedule? What’s new in the world? We catch up on our social media and the news. By that time, he’s awake enough to get up and get the tea kettle on. Then he moseys out to let Pumpkin out of the building so she can begin her busy day of grand adventures around our little homestead.
I usually stay in bed for a little while longer. I used to try to read my bible studies first before I read anything else. But my aging brain has a tendency to focus on the last thing I read and I don’t want that to be the news. So, I read my morning devotionals and make my way to the kitchen for a cup of tea.
However, yesterday morning as I was getting out of bed, I heard a bird I couldn’t identify. I opened the Merlin app on my phone and went to the window to see if I could capture this new song. Even though I crept quietly to the window, the bird must have seen me through the window or heard me somehow, because that sweet song stopped. I carefully laid the phone on the windowsill and went on in the bathroom for my morning ablutions.
When I came back out and picked up my phone, there were two songs identified. The American Crow and the Greater White Fronted Snow Goose. That’s odd. From the red dot after the bird identification, this bird should not be seen at all in our neck of the woods. And I don’t mean an errant neighbor either. This bird is often seen in South Dakota. So, either we had a trespasser, or more likely a misidentification.
The Merlin app has a really cool feature. When it identifies a bird, you can click on it and listen to the sound it recorded and identified. I picked up my phone and clicked on the bird and heard….ummmmmmm….a recording of my “morning ablutions”! Gasp! Well, we’ll just erase that particular recording ‘cause nobody has to hear THAT! lol
These really cold days have had birds flocking to our feeders. The beautiful flashes of color zooming in and out have been wonderful to watch. Like the picture I posted above, if the temperature and light are just right, you can see a bird’s breath when they sing their beautiful songs. I’ve never been able to capture the photo myself. There are often moments you can only relive in your memory because a camera wasn’t handy or you were quick enough on the draw.
This reminds me that every day, all over the world, beautiful things are happening in every moment but we just aren’t there to see them. That doesn’t make them less beautiful. But it should serve as a reminder to always look up when we are out in nature. God puts on a show every single day if we just slow down and look.
May you all take moments to feel peaceful and centered and look for the beauty of today.
Happy February!
❄️❤️❄️
“Beside them the birds of the heavens dwell; they sing among the branches.”
Psalm 104:12 ESV