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On a cold and cloudy morning, even before the interface of the twilight, I heard a bird engaged in its bird call. I traced this bird perched on top of a tree on a dry branch, looking upwards and around, while sending out its bird calls. It seems to be giving its tuneful songs in succession, undeterred by silence all around. I waited if there would be a reciprocal bird calls or a movement of any bird in its vicinity or towards it. The bird was just visible enough for me to get this picture, that too after playing with the exposure settings of the camera. For about twenty minutes this bird was stationary in its flight position engaged in its bird call. When it flew away and disappeared from my sight, I was overcome by a sense of awareness of the solitary effort of one bird, to make a cold and cloudy morning resonant with joyful music.
That bird attempted to turn the gloomy morning, into awakening the listeners, to feel the warmth of thoughtfulness and creative response, and to call its audience to wake up with a song in their ears hoping for a good day!
A bird was alone in that tree. It was a still morning! Its bird calls were loud and tuneful that anyone wanting to receive the message of cheer and hope would have felt uplifted!
A rising thought passed my mind at that time!
What was this bird call for me!
To be present and be the little that I can be to others!
What I noticed in the sky a little later, when the twilight made the skyline visible, was three birds high in the sky, faintly visible, but chirping during their flight. They sounded like a family of parrots.
High in the open sky, in a cloudy morning, they were giving away their bird songs as their gifts to all those who would receive them. In a wide open sky, their bird calls were faint chirps, not audible beyond a short distance. And yet theirs was a music to my soul.
Those three birds sang, which is all that they could do during their flight!
Joseph pf Arimathea, considered to be a righteous man, (Luke 23: 56-54), having found Jesus hanging on the cross, went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus, for him to bury Him in a tomb. He having brought the body down, wrapped the body in a linen cloth, laid Him in the tomb, cut in a rock. He did it on the preparation day just before the Sabbath started.
Amidst all the series of acts of hatred, rejection, scourging, humiliation, crowning with thorns, piercing His body, breathing His last in agony, before and during the Good Friday, it was a hopeless and fearful occasion. Having created terror amidst His followers, they too watched all those ugly sights only from a distance. It looked as though there was no space for fairness and justice and the scene was of indignation and oppression. It was in that hostile setting, Joseph volunteered to offer Jesus a honourable burial, which would have invited the wrath of the religious rulers and the civil authorities.
Yet, Joseph set out to be kind to Jesus, when there was no space left to do anything contrary to the hateful public opinion against Jesus. He through his act of kindness made Jesus worthy of an honourable burial. Joseph created space to do good in a most unacceptable situation, which would even involve him facing consequences of reactive behaviour from the authorities.
Joseph was one who was waiting for the Kingdom of God, a member of the local council, who had not consented to the plan and action to crucify Jesus of Nazareth, and a good righteous man.
It was the abundance of this goodness, which enabled and empowered Joseph to honour Jesus, and act differently from others in the Council who gave consent to his crucifixion.
A single bird perched in a dry tree, on a cloudy and windy morning and giving away its bird song! The three birds during their flight in a cloudy morning giving away their bird songs of cheer!
To be present in difficult situations is straining and stressful. To find space to do acts of kindness and thoughtfulness is even more difficult! To do the little or act kindly in a limited way, in a demanding or inhospitable situation, often is not the norm! But when any one can do that, it is symbolic of the good, which can bring godliness in a difficult situation.
This has been a struggle for me. I seem to fold up or give up when situations turn indifferent or stressful!
I am touched the way the birds made a cloudy and windy morning cheerful in their own way! The little the birds did was like the yeast in the dough, which would soon make the flour ready to be made into a cake!
I received a message recently, from a parent of a child who has developmental challenges, expressing gratitude for a blog post that I wrote on being mindful of others! That was a timely message of thoughtfulness.
We can create space to express acts of kindness towards others! This is a mission worth, pursuing! It is important to do good to the extent possible, without being affected by self pity, fear or anxiety!
The birds brought these thoughts to my consciousness!
M.C.Mathew(text and photo)
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