Waymarks on a Journey
22 April, 2026
Flowers for the peace makers!
Sight and vision!
21 April, 2026
Yes to life and No to what harms others!
At another corner of the garden, a female Purple-rumped Sunbird was gathering its nectar !
The flowers received an adorable look with the colourful presence of the Sunbirds. In fact, the above flowers get noticed even more, when Sunbirds come to feed nectar.
It is the nectar that brings the sunbirds to the flowers. The Sunbirds pollinate the flowers to continue the life beyond ! The small Sunbirds sustain the plant life by visiting the flowers.
In the book, The Time is Now-a call to uncommon courage, Joan Chittister, begins the book, with questions: 'How do we really get out of the swamp we're in. What else are required, to fix this muddled world?'
In the chapter on, A word about prophets, Joan asks: "The only question is, Will we take up what we know is our moral and spiritual responsibility: to make the world a better place for all, to bring to life the fullness of creation for all? To help bring about equality, safety, security, and compassion for all? That is where the prophets come in. The prophet is the person who says no to everything that is not of God.
No to the abuse of women
No to the rejection of the stranger.
No to crimes against immigrants.
No to the rape of trees.
No to the pollution of the skies.
No to the poisoning of oceans.
No to the despicable destruction of humankind for the sake of more wealth, more power, more control for a few.
No to death.....
The prophet is a one who speaks the truth to a culture of lies.
And while saying no, the prophet also says yes.
Yes to equal rights for all.
Yes to alleviating suffering.
Yes to embracing the different.
Yes to who God made you.
Yes to life.
This book is about prophetic spirituality...
It is the spirituality of awareness, of choice, of risk, of transformation. It is about the embrace of life, the pursuit of wholeness, the acceptance of others, the call to co-creation" ( quote ends).
Yes, the Sunbirds were engaged in sustaining the plant life from which they received their nectar!
This is in contrast to the current painful pursuit of war, destruction and attempting to subdue others who are different from us. We need political leaders and rulers of nations who are bathed in prophetic spirituality!
I was reminded while watching the Sunbirds, how they continue the cycle of receiving and giving to sustain the garden life, a prophetic mission indeed !
M.C.Mathew (text and photo)
20 April, 2026
The colours of the morning !
19 April, 2026
A communication time!
The above photos of two Bulbuls in our garden, while feeding together turned a meal time into a communicating time!
The Bulbul who arrived at the feeding station first turned to different directions with bird calls to invite its pair for the meal. From feeding separately from two bowls, they came to tether to feed from the same fruit, taking turns.
Yesterday, during a conversation time with a family, I was disturbed to hear that the meal time at the home was a TV viewing time. Their child who was three years old had poor expressive language skills. As early as from six months of age, the chid was introduced to feed watching TV. After a while it became a family behaviour.
Sharing a meal together creates an occasion to be present to each other and to create a communicating time. That was what I noticed with these two Bulbuls.
The 'machine language' might appear to be entertaining. The 'language of the heart' brings endearing experiences. For children, the endearing experiences are formative and foundational to develop trustful and intimate relationships. For children, such family times offer to experience the family times around a meal as fellowship times.
A child drifts to be occupied to play alone by two to three years of age, if he or she is not introduced to the experiences of togetherness. This is one of the serious disadvantages of offering children to be occupied with TV viewing or playing with mobile phone. Their social world regresses to an animated world where interaction is replaced with passive entertainment.
The Bulbuls demonstrated a contrary experience. They turned to each other in between feeding. They chirped to each other and found pleasure in that communicative ambience. The visual, auditory, emotional and social experiences play a large role in the first three years for the social formation of a child!
The sounds, colours and animations of a visual screen are not what a child's brain is conditioned for in the pre-school years. But human presence, voice, face, touch and interactive play!
The Bulbuls above demonstrated that communicative intent during their meal time! The meal time, becomes a fulfilling time, when it becomes a fellowship time !
M.C.Mathew (text and photo)
18 April, 2026
A morning ritual !
I wondered if this Bulbul above was looking stressed yesterday! Its look and posture were different! If, so, it is disturbing!