A Little Bird Told Me

I normally eat smaller, healthy meals and I stop eating after dinner so I can get in my evening walk and then relax before bedtime.  One recent evening, we ate a larger meal and we ate later than usual.  Such a departure from my regular schedule caused me to wake up in the middle of the night with the heavy feeling that I had somehow swallowed a basketball.  After tossing for an hour, I finally got up, moved to my favorite comfy chair in the living room, and with the sun porch windows open to give me fresh air, I read while wrapped up in a quilt.  At 4:23 a.m., my reading was interrupted by one lone bird who decided it was time to sing.  Soon, he or she was joined by others and soon after that, there was a full bird chorus.  I turned off the light and sat in the darkness, surrendering to the early morning birdsong.  I soon realized that the basketball in my stomach had gone away and I fell asleep in my comfy chair.  When I awakened a couple of hours later, the birds were still singing, though in the daylight, I didn't react as much to the intensity of their song.  That one lone bird singing away in the darkness was all I needed to feel better.  I couldn't help but wonder how often I allow myself to be that one lone bird singing in the darkness, bringing hope and centering to another.  Lesson learned.

For the Birds

I know it's spring when I look at the calendar, but our fickle Wisconsin weather often confuses me into thinking that it's still winter.  This morning, however, I just knew it was spring.  As I awoke, through the closed bedroom windows I could hear the bold, joyful, ever-optimistic sound of early morning birdsong.  I almost opened the windows to welcome in the sound.  Instead, however, I nestled into the covers, closed my eyes and listened to the beautiful songs.  I was reminded of my late mother's favorite Bible verse from The Psalms:  "This is the day which the Lord has made.  Let us rejoice and be glad in it."  I couldn't help but be glad to start this lovely new day (despite the rain, despite the dreary gray skies) because I knew that, like for the birds, there was every reason to rejoice.

Chirp Chirp

I can tell it's fall, simply by the song.  The birds are back serenading in the arbor vitae in the garden leading to the door I use for entering and exiting the hospital where I work.  Last year, I noticed the birds (perhaps sparrows) chirping like crazy from the secluded safety of the arbor vitae.  First, I'd hear them in the evening as I left work, but one recent morning, I arrived extra-early at the office and was welcomed by chirp-chirping from the evergreens as I walked by.  No matter how stressed I might think I am or how difficult I might perceive the day to have gone, there is nothing like the serenading of the birds as I walk by to alter my mood.  What a great way to bookend my workday than to be sung to by an absolutely delightful chorus!

Reveille!

I thought I was dreaming.  As I awoke the other morning, the sky still indigo, I could hear birdsong outside -- through the closed bedroom window!  I could barely believe my ears.  That long-awaited "alarm clock" was back again and I was overjoyed.  I threw off the covers and jumped up with a big smile -- not my usual way of getting up in the morning.  I've had birdsong on the brain lately.  While recently watching the hilarious "Napoleon Dynamite"(for the zillionth time), I found myself focusing on the many times throughout the movie when birdsong could be heard in the background.  I've been wearing my late mom's pewter swallow pin even more than usual.  And I listen intently to the sparrow choir as I walk past the healing garden each morning into the hospital where I work.  I am so ready for birdsong to start my day, uplift my spirits and propel me into spring.  What a welcome reveille!