So my husband, a.k.a. Gladys Kravitz, and I sit on the porch in the afternoon and watch birds. Pathetic, I know, but hey, it’s rather relaxing and once I got past the whole cliche/mockery of what our lives has become, it’s turned out to be a rather relaxing and enjoyable part of my day. In fact, so much so that this evening we put rings on crucifixes for that crazy bunch over at Rosary Army and The Catholics Next Door until the natural light gave out. Note: piece work a terrible way to make a living.
Anyway, I digress. This is about the birds. The ecumenical ones.
It turns out that my hubby made a little island in the front yard, and put a bird bath and a feeder in it. That is what occupies our evenings when Gladys isn’t spying on the neighbors and delivering world-altering news like, “Lamar just went out to get the paper.”
Anyway, the birds. There are tons of them! It’s quite lovely to watch. At first, they would come to the bird bath, but totally ignore the feeder. Except for the squirrels, who perch near the stand and try to figure out how to get to it: fail! We’ve seen all kinds of pretty birds. Now that they’ve figured out that there’s food, everyone comes to eat. We were particularly taken with a male and female couple of cardinals. The female seemed afraid of the feeder, and would perch near it, but not terribly close. The male would get some food and take it to her! It was amazing! I’ll let you draw the metaphor for marriage on your own.
Back to ecumenism. Every kind of bird comes to the bath and feeder and shares in the available resources. It’s pretty amazing. I didn’t think they would coexist like that, but they sure do. Of course, some are a little more righteous than others, and then there’s the problem of the Blue Jays. They are pricks. But all in all, we could learn a few lessons from the natural world.
It reminds me of one of my favorite bible verses: Matthew 6:25-34.