A romantic call!

I happened to hear a slow, sonorous bird call of a Black hooded Oriole from the tree in our lawn. It was musical and enticing. I wondered whether it was a call for mating!

I noticed one other oriole, a short distance away with an erotic response in its plumage, perched in a banana tree a little distance away. 

I noticed that the Oriole from the banana tree and another one perched in the Custard apple tree, which I had not noticed, arriving to be perched near to the Oriole, who was engaged in repeated enticing bird calls. The three of them flew away together leaving me to guess that  there will be pairing! I shall look out for a pair of Orioles in their  courtship in our garden. 

What got me to look for the Oriole was a bird call that sounded different from the usual bird calls in our garden. These Orioles might have adopted our garden for their flight station recently. Having been away for ten days, I got time this morning to be in the garden, which is when I noticed the Oriole engaged in its musical calls. It is often the male birds that sing tunefully at the mating season. 

A bird has in its instinct a particular time to choose its partner for  mating. It adapts its behaviour to communicate that intent. Birds communicate different moods and intent through the bid calls. Those different calls differ in decibels, frequency of sounds,  the duration of each call and frequency of the calls. 

The birds learn to modulate the calls corresponding to the mood and season. It is the inner language that a bird communicates through its calls. 

One interest that I have had for a while, was to learn to categorise the bird calls of the common birds,  visiting our garden. I have no musical orientation or skill. It has been therefore difficult to appreciate the musical tone and tune of the calls. What I am beginning to know about the mood of the birds from the calls is by learning from the duration, frequency and the loudness of the calls. 

The Bulbuls resident in our garden, some of them in pair, know where our dining room is located. They also know that the fruit bowl is usually located in the shelf next to it. One or two Bulbuls would come as a messenger and sing tunefully with short duration, as if it is calling for attention. They do it when the feeding bowl needs refilling in the garden. The common Myna too has a habit of coming to the lawn and making bird calls when the feeding bowl is empty. I like these social gestures from birds resident in the garden. 

I have also noticed that some Bulbuls sing in a chorus when I leave the garden, as if they are calling me back. On a few occasions when I went back, they became quieter and returned to be noisy when I went back  to the cottage. 

The birds bring a message to me to grow in listening, seeing and observing the movements. I get a sense that some birds even perform acrobatics in the air, when they know that they are being watched. 

I know from experience of some pre-school children, whose parents were willing to let them feed birds regularly in their garden, the impulsivity of children decreased and their attention and awareness increased. 

I come to know now, that bird watching is more than a hobby; it brings  interior calmness and silence promoting attentiveness and observational skills. Those who are musical would find the bird calls profoundly interesting and can learn to know the language hidden in the bird calls. 

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

A social habit!

 

The above four photos are of Indian pied Myna.  The Indian pied Myna is not a regular visitor in our garden. I get an opportunity to see them while visiting north India. They are often found in open spaces and rice fields or in gardens, where there are fruits to live on.They find their night shelter in trees except during the time of their nesting and breeding.  

The common Myna below is different in the colour of its plumage and 

often found near human habitations. 

What is common between these two species of Myna, is that they are often found in small groups and live in a community. 

In our garden, Anna and I watch the common Myna come to feed in the feeding station regularly and behave friendly towards other birds. 

The common Myna can imitate human voices, and a friend told me that they produce the sound, 'Hullo' when he calls them. 

I like watching Myna for two reasons. They are immaculately groomed all the time and are quiet birds with bird calls usually associated with communication between the members of their family. 

I noticed a single Myna calling out for other Myna to come to the feeding station and wait till they come before starting to feed. That is unusual. The Bulbuls feed themselves first and then call out for other birds to come. 

I have noticed that birds come to the feeding station also for 'socialising'. I noticed some Myna birds come to perch on the twigs of the tree, just above the feeding station and fly away after a while without feeding. That too is a ritual of some Myna birds. 

It is like one domestic helper working for us, going to the tea shop in the morning to hear the news of the village from others and return without drinking tea. That morning gathering of about twenty people is the way they start the day. He told me that he would miss that conversation time, if for some reason he could not go!

I noticed that conversation times become communication times when there is a regardful and trustful exchange of thoughts, needs and concerns. 

This social habit of being with each other in the neighbourhood is still a regular occurrence in our village. The social harmony in our village is regulated by some who take interest in the needs and stresses of people. 

The sense of togetherness the Myna birds communicate to each other is their social habit. 

This avian behaviour of some birds is an inspiring message to me!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Two Mothers and their pre-school children!

The above photo taken from the front portion of a village house in north India, was one of the special photos during my ten days of visit to the village. This scene brought back memories of many aspects of maternal-baby bonding during infancy. 

I was to board a flight on the same day at noon. I looked forward to the day as I had some important things pending for me to do on reaching home. 

After checking in on time, while waiting for the boarding, we were told that the flight was going to be delayed about three hours. That was not a pleasant news as that would make me loose the connection for the next leg of the journey. I was pleasantly surprised to get help from the airline staff to book for another flight although it meant waiting at the transit air port till mid night. However, I did not sense a turbulence within me, unlike my usual response to such situations. 

I settled down to read. It was then a child of two or three years approached me to take the book away from me. His mother promptly interrupted him and offered him the mobile phone. After about ten minutes, the mother took away the phone from him and was engaged in surfing the phone herself, during which time this child moved about, sometimes running between rows of chairs, at other times climbing over the chair, where ever there was an empty chair and behaved with no inhibition in a departure hall where at least two hundred people were seated.  

Every effort of the mother to pacify him, by giving him chocolate biscuits, beverage to drink or offer an early lunch in preparation to make him sleep did not help.  Even the security staff supported the mother in her effort to make him seated. What pacified him for a while was the mobile phone, when his mother offered him for another short time, after which she forcibly took it from him for her to be on the screen. I suspect that the mother too was unable to occupy herself without viewing the phone. 

This cycle of the child and mother taking turns to be on the screen was a disturbing sight to watch. There were occasions when the mother scolded, spanked and pinched the child with no avail. He was on the go, unmindful of the people in the environment. Even the mother had no option left to occupy the child except by offering the phone. An elderly woman tried to engage him by pointing to the air craft arriving, but he was trying to force open the door to go to the tarmac. This boy spoke some words and the English accent of the child and mother made me guess that they were overseas Indians, on a visit to India.

I realised, while watching this pre-school child and his mother that the door of communication was shut, as the mother could not engage him in conversation or pacify him. He was insistent. The mother had no toys or books for him to scribble. I  did not notice her singing or offer him to do something to occupy him.

As against this scene that disturbed me, there was another mother sitting with her pre-school son at the other side of the departure hall. I moved my seat to have a better view of the engagement between the child and the mother. The mother kept pointing to different things in the departure hall and moved between the snack bar and the viewing  corner to watch air craft arriving and taking off. I saw her reading to him from picture books, engaging him by giving drawing materials and playing with puzzles. What was striking was that the mobile was no where in sight. She fed him with fruits and water. She seemed to sing to him when he looked drowsy, but he woke up to continue his play with the mother. How the mother used different variations of play to keep him occupied amazed me. For about an hour, I had an opportunity to watch this mother and child, till the boarding was announced.

I noticed a mother who knew the art of enjoying the presence of being with her pre-school child. The child delighted and responded to the different activities which the mother initiated. The mother travelled with different activity plan for her son. I felt fascinated  by the strong sense of attachment between the child and mother. 

I recall how others sitting close by also noticed how this mother responded fondly and occupied the child pleasantly. 

There was an open door of communication between the mother and child. The mother's attention was focussed on the child. She responded to her son intuitively and actively. 

This photo above, of a vibrant and colourful Lily in a garden I visited two days ago, became a symbol of the joy the above mother and child shared between them, during a prolonged wait in the air port. 

I found the three hours spent, watching two mothers and their pre-school children, as a learning experience about the contrast that exists in parenting patterns. Both families might be on a holiday in India, while normally resident in some English speaking country overseas. 

Both adults and children get perturbed when flight delays take place. In the case of the second mother, she was ready, alert and resolved to respond to an unforeseen situation, as she was normally used to communicating with her son. 

What is common between a sheep family and a human family is the way they rear and nurture their offsprings!

I boarded the flight with some heaviness.  I felt the desperate situation of the first child who was driven by his impulsive behaviour! His mother seemed weary, probably because of long international travel !

When a mother and an infant grow up enjoying the interactive process, the outcome is a stable relationship and an easy passage into toddler and pre-school years!

M.C.Mathew (text and photo)

 

 

 

The compulsions of childhood education!

 

The above sight of a school going child on a Saturday morning,  while she was waiting for her school bus to arrive in a village in north India, brought some disturbing thoughts in my mind. 

The girl was reading from her note book;  probably she might have an examination on that day. The learning and appraisal processes in our educational system are outdated. The emphasis is still on acquiring and remembering information and not necessarily in application and analysis of the information. So compulsion to memorise facts is heavy on children. 

The grading system is based on a scoring system of remembering  facts and does not cover the domains of thinking, processing and original enquiry. The learning appraisal process is largely outdated even in the professional courses. The entrance test to post graduate learning in medical subjects contains about seventy percent of factual questions. I wish majority of questions were clinical scenarios which the candidates had to process  and illustrate to get an idea of the skills of observation, thinking, planning and bedside care of person with an illness. 

The bag hanging on her shoulder was large and appeared heavy. That is an other dimension of load she carries with her-more than the weight of the books in the bag,  it is the burden of learning! 

'Learning without burden' is essential to make childhood experience a pleasant and transitional experience of growing up, feeling the charm of knowing and discovering!

I have an apology to make to children, who feel the stress of learning. I lived hoping for that least sixty years, since I finished by elementary school education that the school education would become child friendly and exploratory! The teaching process might have moved on to using technology of communication through the visual and auditory media, but in content and in the methodology of learning, it is heavily loaded towards acquiring information. 

I find a comment in the educational circle that the learning related difficulties are on the increase in school going children. In fact, many schools have a resource room with adaptations to help children to  adjust to, when the group learning in a regular class room is difficult. Some children receive help through shadow teachers who interpret for them what is taught in the class. Some other children receive a one-to-one learning support when the regular class rooms demands intimidate children to become inattentive and disruptive.

The educational reforms in the last thirty years in India addressed to create better class room facility, upbuilding the capacity of teachers with more focus on the psychology of learning and and revising the syllabus to make it relevant and contemporary. But what was not addressed adequately, is to bring back the learning process to stimulate enquiry, observation, thinking and exploration.  

During a nature walk with a nine years old child, the question he asked  me impressed me about his sense of curiosity and enquiry on all that he saw, heard and felt during the walk. 

He looked surprised by the size, colour, contour of different birds and raised enquiring questions about their habitat, food and nesting patterns. At the end of an hour long walk, his question to me was,   'Why can't we learn by observation, conversation and doing activities to understand than just memorise facts?' 

Let me share this rose flower with all school going children to bring cheer to your learning process, with an apology that we as adults are yet to find ways to make learning easier for you. How to make a learning an enlarging and motivating experience for children is a challenge in formal school education! Till that time, when children can find their formal learning process at school a natural choice and a comfortable process, we are to be in relentless efforts to match the learning process to the aspirations of childhood. 

The other major factor that influences pre-school children to be school ready is parenting attention they receive at home. It is towards promoting this thought process and practice of parenting, Anna and I recently brought out a dialogue starter on parenting of pre-school children. 

The traditional parenting practices arising out of attachment behaviour between parents and children need an affirming approach. There are a few disruptive forces which increase the distance and cordiality between parents and children. The media, with is entertainment flavour upon  parents  and children, the internet digital technology of games and multiple social media, and the digital communication which reduces interface of interactive and social nearness, are some of those influences which seem to create a new paradigm in parenting approach. The digital world is displacing our social interface, which means that the growth and development process of childhood hitherto well defined by child development sequences,  are likely to be reformulated to adapt to the influences of the digital world! 

I hear and read thoughts in this direction. Instead of defining 'stranger anxiety, stranger awareness, socialisation', which are developmental sequences from nine months to eighteen months of a child would be now defined by an infant's or toddlers' awareness of comical figures, their movements, communication, profile and behaviour in the visual screen. A real world of people, play, nature and homely events might get displaced by the child's ability to be familiar with the 'animated world' of childhood in the media. 

In this context of change, and transition to occupy children in the digital interface that parents are getting more comfortable with, the booklet below is a voice of concern, we raise with some thoughts to favour and raise advocacy for social childhood for pre-school children! We hope parens are at the heart of initiating pre-school children to their learning journey and the visual media becomes a tool to make the learning broad based, and not a substitute!

The above booklet,  Parenting Presence introduces fifty topics, which parents of pre-school children are invited to consider, explore and experience, while nurturing children. 

 

The formation of a pre-school child is a process where the home and the relationships related to the home carry a major influence. It is this which is explored with  comments and clarifications with the intention of making pre-school children school ready and parents to become partners in transition of a pre-school child from the home to the formal learning at school.

As adults we owe a lot to help children to begin their life experience at home to be pleasant and upbuilding and turn the schooling experience to unfold the person resident in a child! 

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

 

Even the last receives!

The Mango trees are with their tender leaves; the rice fields are turning brown suggestive of the rice head maturing; the rose bush has fresh flowers; a young Magpie robin is hopping in the garden and a Bulbul is feeding from a feeding bowl...!

All these are some signs in nature, of the rhythm of changes associated with the seasonal transition. 

I felt that I was standing at an intersection of a transition, which would be soon followed by fruits and harvest in the trees in our garden!

I am fascinated by the message of hope the trees, plants and avian life bring about life and the variances of its expressions in nature!

It is in the background of this prospect and promotion of life. we feel appalled by the conflict which escalated recently in Russian-Ukranian and Israel-Palestinain borders. The army of these countries are involved in destroying human life and habitations.  I feel frozen  by the ineffectiveness of the United Nations Organisation, which was a creation of hope for peace, following the Second World War. 

The nature sings for us a chorus of peace and hope; some inhabitants of the earth counter it by hateful and provocative mutual behaviour.

The Myna above, precariously perched on a slender branch, in preparation for its downward flight caught my attention. Whether it is an upward or downward flight, what makes flying it possible is its wings and flying skills. It overcomes the force of gravity and creates its own path forward. 

I wish the traction for violence, which is the force of gravity often seen in human behaviour would come to cease. Humans are overcomers! How is that we surrender to the lure of violence to achieve, possess and control!

The above sight of birds at the feeding station in our garden renews my hope each day. There is plenty for each bird because of which they take turns to feed and stay together celebrating togetherness! The avians are fraternal, although they too succumb sometimes to their carnal nature to harm others to dominate!

This sight in our feeding station each morning lifts me up to remember the law in nature, 'live and let others live' !

This pair of Mynas were the last ones to come to the feeding station on one morning. Even the last finds enough food! Therefore there is no need to struggle to be first!

What a consciousness of wellness and peace this thought brings!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

 

 

At day break !

During a walk on the road to a village, I saw different sights at day break. On one day this week,  the sight of people beginning the day caught my attention. There were adults and children on their morning walk and some others with their shoulder bags, on their way to their work place. There was a man on his motorbike with his merchandise ! Around the same time each day of the week, these sights were different on the road. The traffic on the road at day break was minimum. By about 6.30 am the road became crowded with school buses and autorikshaws, carrying children to schools. 

What remained constant during the week was the sight in the garden outside the cottage where Anna and I live. The coconut tree and the flowers in the garden looked the same. The bird movements were also similar in the mornings.

There are changes and routines in our lives each day. 

What is not often easy is to adjust to, are the changes. 

The changes are sometimes unsettling. 

It was while listening to a vendor who sells vegetables I realised how vulnerable he is! On certain days, not even half of the vegetables he brought to sell, would be sold. He would suffer loss as he has no cold storage to keep the vegetables. On some days, he would not have earned enough money to purchase vegetables to sell on the next day. Perhaps demands on those days might have been more. The demand-supply situation is so variable that he has losses on more days in a week than enough profit to sustain his family. He lives borrowing on such occasions. 

The changes bring a demand on his wellness and routines at home. He spoke about his experience with some anguish as the large shops around the area make vendors like him  redundant. He has lived selling vegetable for twenty years that a shift to any other business is not so easy. 

There are many at cross roads in life, in similar situations. The way forward is frustrating to some of them. 

I read recently that people live in Finland with high level of happiness as the social security system is able to take care of any one in distress. The senior citizens are well taken care of. The health care system is on a welfare mode. 

It occurred to me while returning from the walk, that people in this village, adapt poorly to the changes around. 

The above sight of construction work in different parts of the village, in the farm land, sends out the sad message of distress sale of land that people are forced to do to survive. The farm land is getting reduced with land converted for industrial purpose. The farmers although gain   from the sale, are left without an occupation and a regular income. It leads to another cycle of distress. 

The demands on life are harsh on some people. The mind set of the national government is to promote industry and investors. It is a utilitarian approach with little consideration towards those whose subsistence needs are not yet attended to adequately!

The changes in the economic fabric of the rural life receives only a peripheral attention from the policy makers. 

I got a close up view of changes in the social and economic fabric of rural life, which displace people from a wellness path!

Some people walk into uncertainties each day and return home in the evening, to prepare for another journey into the uncertainty on the next day!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

 

The garden of life!

 

A garden has a giving tradition!

The birds come to receive. A butterfly comes to feed on nectar. A bulb of lily buried in the soil springs forth into a plant and a flower following the summer rain. The rose bud sprouts to give new shoots, buds and flower. The soil gives life to both the lily and rose bush. There are multiple other events in the garden taking place each day. 

A jack fruit tree gives new shoots from its trunk in readiness to bear fruits during summer. It bears the memory of fruits born earlier, on the side of the trunk! It is in the habit of bearing fruit once or twice in a year.  

A garden offers its gifts to birds, butterflies, and humans. The soil is nitrogen rich. The oxygen these plants and trees give, sustains life. 

The plants and trees take their nutrition from the soil to give freely and abundantly. 

Taking and giving is the cycle in nature. Often the plants and trees give a lot more than they take from the soil. 

In one parable Jesus of Nazareth spoke to His followers, a rich man decided to build new barns to gather the gather grains from a rich harvest. His was a possessive attitude with personal gain alone in his mind.(Luke.12:16-21) The attitude of the rich man was: 'I will say to my soul, soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry' (v19). The millionaires of the world are those who have used the produce of the earth to acquire, possess and exploit to live prosperously for themselves. 

The efforts of some millionaires to create charitable trusts is most commendable  as they return part of their wealth to bring welfare to people in need. 

In the presidential debate two days ago, prior to the national election in the USA, the two candidates spoke about their aspiration. Their aspiration was to become the president and everything else appeared secondary. They seem to make giving, conditional to becoming the president of the USA. 

Mother Teresa of Calcutta showed another way of  giving life to the elderly people living in the streets of Calcutta, by giving up her role as the Principal of Loretta school. She lived and served not from a royal position, but from her heart of self giving in love. What I witnessed in the debate between the two presidential candidates was language of arrogance, suspicion, accusation, blaming and not of love and regard!

The giving when is from a lowly position, as it was in the case of Mother Teresa, there is renewal of life and promise of hope ! 

The birds in the garden looked well fed; the plants in the garden thrive, the flowers are vibrant and nectar giving and the jack fruit tree is ready to give forth its fruits! They bloom where they are planted. 

Living for giving! That is the pattern in nature. 

The political leadership in India is focussing on becoming the third largest economy in the world, while the bottom in the pyramid of population subsists with less than what they need! What a contradiction of purpose and intent!

Nature teaches us to give. As humans, I sense a growing tendency to acquire, possess, hoard and live indulgently anaesthetising ourselves from knowing about the needs of millions, for whom, a cooked meal each a day is still out their reach. 

I felt refreshed by the sights in the garden during the walk, because, the giving pattern in nature got reinforced in my thoughts. 

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

The becoming!

 

I happened to notice a bud and rose flower in a rose bush, while on a morning walk. I felt drawn by this sight and paused for a while to take in the message of this sight. 

A bud over period of few weeks shall open to be flower.  This becoming process is long or short depending on the genetics and the epigenetic effects on the rose plant. 

A child shall become an adult over a period of time; and an adult shall become a senior citizen over a period of time. This process of becoming is spread over decades of life. 

Yet there is a becoming experience each day !

During the daily walk to a village every day for five days, I got an exposure to the lives of people who live on both sides of the road leading to the village. As my walk was around the same time each day, I was able to watch the routines of the day around the wayside houses. 

One sight that fascinated me was what a father did every day towards his three to four years old son. He walked with him, pointing the child to different activities taking place on either side of the road. As I walked behind them for about ten minutes on one day, I got a glimpse of the conversation that takes place between the child and father. 

One question that the son asked the father was about a tree that did not have any leaves. 

The father's explanation was that the tree was old and had lost the leaves. He pointed to a senior citizen who was walking ahead, who had lost most of his hair on the head, turning to be bald! The boy listening to this, asked his father, 'Will you also loose your hair when you become old'? The father, responded in a way that might make a connection to the child, by recalling the photos on the bulletin board at home. That collection of the child's photos taken on every birthday showed how the hair grew. He stroked his son's hair and suggested how his hair has grown long over time! The boy exclaimed, 'Yes, I am growing'! 

The father pointing to the teak tree on the road side with its blossoms turned the attention of his son to the stages of growth in a tree, stem, branches, leaves, flowers, and seeds. The father and child stopped at this site for a few minutes. I could not over hear the subsequent conversation as vehicles were passing by drowning their conversation in the high decibels of the traffic.

Although I did not have an opportunity to be in their proximity, while on my walk on other days, as they were ahead of me or were returning after the regular walk, I presumed that the conversations between them had similar content and course of dialogue. 

I felt fascinated by the becoming process of a pre-school child facilitated by his father through listening and interaction. What was most captivating in the conversation was, how the father turned the attention of the child to growing by turning to the growing tree. From the tree without leaves  to a tree with abundance of leaves, flowers and fruits!

I guess that the father understands the psychology of association which a pre-school child makes, when an event is visible and tangible. This is the way a child's thinking is influenced with experiences or exploration. 

On my way back home, after being part of a formative experience of a pre-school child and the discerning skill of the father, I sat back to consider as to how much of discerning skill is growing within me to turn the attention of a seeker to life and living from his orientation to be dragged by the losses in life!

Many people live like a barren tree, with hope and aspiration dried up due the compulsions in life and adverse circumstances. How much am I alive to discern their need and open their mind to turn their attention to the tree that is blossoming !

Our daily living, needs an inspiration to shift our focus to becoming full with the consciousness of resilience within to continue in this journey of becoming! 

Our journey in life is not  towards loosing, but gaining to be fruitful!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

An acquired co-ordination !

When we travel to places, where rural traditions still prevail, one can come across sights that surprise us enormously,  as such sights are not common in urban settings. 

I was familiar with such sights as in the above photographs in my childhood, when people carried head loads in a similar way. 

It was after several years I had an opportunity to walk behind a person who carried a head load balancing well while he walked briskly. Occasionally he had to support the head load when he moved to the side of the road, when a vehicle passed by. I walked behind him, for about fifteen minutes till he took a turn to go to his village. It was an unusual experience of how a person had acquired such skills to  a high level of precision. 

I met a person, a farmer by occupation, who told me that he can carry unto 30 kilograms on his head and walk half a kilometre without feeling exhausted. What he said about having the hands free to swing  while walking makes the walking easier, made sense to me about its physiology. He indicated that the swinging movements of the hands contribute to balance the body better and keep the head load secure on the head. The head load, if of hard or uneven objects,  would be difficult to carry on head without the support it with hands. This farmer who has two cows carries a 30 kilo head load of cattle feed on his head and walk half a kilometre once every week. 

Out of curiosity when I asked, what if he hired a auto-rikshaw to carry the load, his response was, ' When I get older, I shall do it'!

The life style of people in the village setting, is closer to what it was about twenty years ago. 

One difference I noticed at day break was women walking on  the road as part of their fitness exercise regimen. 

Another sight that I noticed was the merchandise on motor bike.This salesperson travels about seventy kilometre and visits about trendy five villages each day with his merchandise. His daily income is about three thousand rupees which gives him a profit of about 600 to 700 rupees in a day, which is less than the minimum wage prescribed for a skilled person.  That is the story of workers in the unorganised sector. There is an effort to create services of subsidised health care, offer provident fund and social security for such people in the unorganised sector. It is still a long way for that to materialise as the economy is market driven in India and not welfare driven! 

The 'sanitised' minds of those who live in urban setting in the social fabric of prosperity, need an exposure to villages, to know the other side of life in remote parts of India. 

I find such visits educative, informative and inviting to encounter  realities beyond the usual!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

A widow, and a migrant on a pilgrim journey!

The story of the prophet of Elijah of the Old Testament of the Bible, in I Kings 17th chapter, appeared in a conversations and in my reading during this week. One painting above I found in the internet of Elijah, in a listening attitude to the voice of God, prompted me to explore his experience during a drought season, where food and water became scarce. 

Elijah prophesied that, '..there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word' (v1). It was following this he was 'guided to turn eastward and hide' by the brook of Cherith. He lived beside the brook, drinking from it and receiving food served by ravens twice a day(v6).

The above two paintings give a vivid introduction to the experience of Elijah living in isolation and turning the season for waiting to know the next move that he was to take. He spent a good bit of the early season of the drought of three years at the brook. 

The Cherith represented in Biblical context, separation and seclusion. It was a place where Elijah lived hidden and was prepared for yet another significant turning point in his life and in the history of the people during the reign of the King Ahab. 

The details in the two paintings above brought to me the reality of the trial and travail of living in this hiding place. Elijah lived in uncertainty each day. The brook was beside him, but the food was a suspense, till the ravens arrived with bread. The Biblical scholars suggest that in a pilgrim journey there is an experience of provision and suspense. It is one experience, where living by faith takes precedence over living by sight. 

I remember that Rev, Basil Scott came to visit Anna and me while at CMC, Vellore in 1981, following the home call of our daughter.  It was a time when we were feeling drawn to pursue child development in an active way to support children who were developmentally challenged. This meant leaving CMC Vellore, as an opportunity to pursue that could not be found although we explored this seriously with the leadership of the institution at that time. It is now little over forty years since that decision to develop a Child Development service. The first step was to begin the Child Development Centre at Chennai in November, 1983. We now recall this forty years as a season when we were provided for, in ways that took us through seasons of provision and suspense.

When the brook at Cherith got dried, Elijah was guided to. 'Arise, go to Zarephath... and stay there...behold, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you' (v9). It was at this place Elijah met a widow who was gathering sticks to prepare a meal for her and her son. 

The two photos of this part of the story of Elijah depicted by two artists brought the story into a vivid expression of that event. The first is a marble work found in the floor of the cathedral of Siena, Italy, the date of art work going back to 1517-1547.

This art work of Elijah meeting the widow, while she was picking sticks to cook her food,  became an occasion for Elijah to ask her 'for a little water in a jar that I may drink'. He added to this request  'a peace of bread' by calling out to her while she was on her way to fetch water (v10, 11)

What touched me was the 'minimalist' approach Elijah carried in his thoughts by requesting for 'little' water  and a 'piece' of bread. I felt moved by this desire of Elijah to be content with little water and a piece of bread. In fact they were 'small in quantity' even for a meal. He having been on a pilgrim journey,  developed contentment by having 'little'. The desire to have 'plenty' was replaced by having just enough to live on. 

Elijah was on a 'desert' experience in his personal life. He lived hidden at the brook of Cherith initially when the drought had set in. He was later guided to live by receiving provision from a widow, who too had only 'handful of flour in the bowl, and a little oil in the jar, ...' (v12). The latter part of the above verse revealed that, she was gathering a few sticks, to prepare a meal for herself and her son that 'we may eat it and die'! 

It appears to be a paradox that it was to such a widow, who had very little to live on, was the person that Elijah was to goto,  to be taken care of!

What inspired me was the heartful response of the woman to return with a piece of bread and water for Elijah, which is well portrayed in the painting below. Her son appeared in the painting, holding on to his mother, whose face conveyed alertness, surprise and anticipation. He did not look sorrowful. The painter partly covered the widow's face that one is left to wonder about  her mood on her face. The light falling on her face and the body posture of bending to offer piece of bread conveyed the graceful way she responded to look after an old person, needing a meal. The widow baked the bread with the little flour that was left with her. She brought a portion of the bread from the last meal that she and her son were left with!

Elijah looked surprised and was reaching to receive the piece of bread with an open palm of the right hand. His look of gratefulness and gladness was well expressed in the painting. 

The painter imagined Elijah to be well nourished, even though he was at the brook, living on water and bread, which the ravens brought to him twice daily. This gave me a window to sense the message of abundance of care God provided to Elijah, although he had to live in austere circumstances. The little food that he had to live on until then was 'large enough' to keep him well physically. In the imagination of the painter, it is a paradox, that a person was looking well even when he had only minimal food for a while. It was a message hidden in this painting, that 'God cares for a person who entrusts his life to him' although he had only little resources to live on. Such a person who casts his care on Him who cares, would live in the tradition of Andrew, a disciple of Jesus of Nazareth, who found five loaves and two fish good enough to feed five thousand people, as it was to Jesus he handed them over,  to bless and multiply. 

The little we have is large enough to make us live well and experience contentment!

The experience of the widow to share the piece of bread with Elijah came out of the blessing, she received from Elijah before she preceded to bake the bread:  'The bowl of flour shall not get exhausted, nor shall the jar of oil be empty, until the day that the Lord sends rain on the face of the earth'(v 14).

Elijah through that blessing, brought a new orientation to her to live by. Our resource may be limited materially; but 'He who watches over us' will make what we are given, abundant enough for us to live well and in contentment.

The story of hospitality that the widow offered brought a new dimension to her life, when Elijah restored the life her son!  Her act of kindness became the means for her to receive more grace in her life. 

It was when I noticed the bunch flowers growing wild on the road side,  I got another insight about the life of Elijah. The flowers were seen in a thorny bush. Our life can have 'rough terrain' to go through, but what springs forth later, is flowers that would be gift to others. 

He lived to bring blessings to others. Elijah did not live seeking for more physical and material comfort. In fact, he lived detached from the lure of comfort that a prophet was entitled to. There was a self giving, beyond the ordinary nature in his life. He lived listening and discerning, which brought a new life to the widow and her son.  'She and her household ate for many days' (v15).

I returned to think: 'What is  that I can do to bring hope in the lives of others'!

From the two phone messages I received yesterday, I saw a window that was opened to initiate a dialogue to help them to consider options to move forward from a cross road that they face in life!

We are given that we learn to give!

There are times in our lives, when we are made to live hidden. It was out of the hidden time at the brook of Cherith, Elijah was moved to go to a widow, whose son needed Elijah's prayer for his restoration to life.  In the hidden experience at the brook of Cherith, Elijah received an unction to be life giving to others!

Anna and I look back to the forty years! What do we see in the canvas of our lives thus far! 

Surprises after surprises! Five years into work into Child development, I realised that I needed more grounding in developmental neurology. There was no higher speciality training available in India at that time in Paediatric Neurology. When it started for the first time in AIMS Delhi in 1992, it was not feasible for us to to relocate at New Delhi for three years. Shorty after that the head of Institute of Neurology. whom I happened to meet in a meeting, offered me a position to train at the Institute of Neurology, Madras Medical College, Chennai in Developmental Neurology. The three years became formative years in pursing child development with better neurological foundation. It was an experience of being 'provided for' in a way that surprised me then and now.

What we received during these years through conversations times with families and children, were new insights about how parents journey through their difficult times to support children to attain their developmental possibilities.  Most parents are overcomes! They find strength to live beyond their disappointments. 

There are times, when life brings us to a season of waiting in hope!

M.C.Mathew(text and  photos from the Internet )