One Bird Watching

One reason I write this blog every morning is to open my heart and hand to share with others some of the riches I receive each day either from prayer or from reading. 

For many years, I kept a journal so that I would not lose or forget the treasures I received.  But then, one day, I read Mary's Song, a meditation on the Magnificat, by Mary Catherine Nolan (my husband's cousin).  In the introduction, she mentioned that the Dominican vocation is to contemplation and then to share the fruits of contemplation with the world.  That made sense to me; I wondered why I was burying the fruits of my prayer in a journal and not sharing them with others.  Of course, I did not know how to "share" with others, short of publishing a book, which seemed to me then to be an impossible and overwhelming task.  And then, I thought, who would read it?  The expense of publishing a book for 3 or 4 people who may be interested seemed ludicrous to me.

One day, a couple of years ago, I was visiting a friend in Tennessee, who showed me how to begin a blog.  That seemed to me a perfect way to share with others the fruit of my prayer and reading.  So I began.  Whoever reads this blog is God's choice.  If 3 people read it, that is fine with me; everything is up to Him.  But somehow, I find I must write, even if no one reads.  I chose the name for this blog from a poem that I found on a plaque beside a pond in New Harmony, Indiana, and quoted within the first few days of starting my blog.(The back story of the poem can be found in an October, 2010, entry of this blog called "The Title.")

Stranger

When no one listens

To the quiet trees,

When no one notices

The sun in the pool;

When no one feels

the first drop of rain,

Or sees the last star;

Or hails the first morning

Of a giant world

Where the peace begins

and rages end:

One bird sits still

Watching the work of God:

One turning leaf,

Two falling blossoms,

Ten circles upon the pond.

In my time of prayer each morning, that is exactly how I feel:  like a bird sitting still, watching the work of God -- not creating my own work, but watching what He is doing.  And when I walk to the beach at the end of the day and see "my" beautiful blue heron that has taken up his post at the edge of the water, looking out over the waves, I see the image of "one bird watching the work of God."

The reason I so often quote from what I am reading is my great desire not to "hoard" the treasures the Lord opens to me each day.  I want to grab everyone I see and say, "Read this!  It's great!"  (I can see all the eye-rolling going on from here.)  But all of this today is just to explain why I am quoting from God Calling 2.  I have used God Calling for about 35 years now, as a way to enter the quiet space I need for prayer.  Recently, a friend gave me God Calling 2, a sequel to the first book.  Each day now begins with my reading the entries from both books, a practice that never fails to lead me into communion with God.  Today's entry from GC2 is one that I must share in its entirety:

Listen and I will speak.

I seldom force an entrance through many voices and distracting thoughts.

There must be first the coming apart, and then the stilling of all else, as you wait in My Presence.

Is it not enough that you are with Me?

Let that sometimes suffice.

It is truly much that I speak to you.  But unless My indwelling Spirit is yours, how can you carry out My wishes, and live as I would have you live?

My greatest desire is that whoever reads this would hear His voice, and that mine would be stilled.