The Magpie Robin above has a daily routine of being perched in the same place in our garden, on most mornings around the same time. Following the ritual of grooming, it looks out in all directions in an orderly pattern!
Having watched this on a few occasions, this Magpie robin has got used to my presence and taking photos.
This 360 degree view of its environment is an essential component of its awareness exercise, before it takes to its usual flight movements.
It is by referring to such birds of the air, Jesus of Nazareth said as recorded in the gospel of Matthew 6:26-27, : "Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow or reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubist ti his stature ?"
The uncertainty of the day is ever before this bird each morning as it plans for its flight path. It returns the next day to do the same! It is certainty that it encounters each day and not anxiety.
A bird becomes present, to its environment and finds its feed! It draws its food and strength from what it receives.
The giving God and the receiving cycle!
It is when the mind set changes from receiving to acquiring or possessing, the ambience of anxiety takes over to dwell in our conscious mind.
It is in giving we receive, which is the antidote to anxiety.
During my two years of association with Professor Malachi Jadhav, while working in the department of child health, in the early nineteen eighty, I experienced this giving attitude. Dr Malathi would invite someone from her team to join with her for the morning tea. She would pour out tea and serve in a gesture that touched me on several occasions. It was her way of bridging the gap of emotional distance between a senior professor and a junior colleague. She disarmed the anxiety or aura associated with relating to a senior professor by this kind gesture. On one occasion she told me, that the 'work place creates opportunities to know each other'. Instead of remaining insulated in the aura of her position, she reached out to give and care.
One can be in a giving disposition or in a hoarding attitude! Jesus of Nazareth referred to a giving God.
Each day, as the Magpie robin flies out to its flight stations, it returns after receiving!
To share with others, for whom an act of giving can touch and transform the day, is an opportunity each of us has!
It is when one receives in unexpected ways, one is made even more aware about the effect of giving. Recently, a friend came to pick me up in his car on a rainy day from the guest house where I lived, to go for a meeting where I was required to be present at a particular time. He did that on his own. It was a gesture of self giving.
The giving God calls me to be giving! The Magpie robin silently testifies about a giving God. It flies out each morning and returns each day well fed.
M.C.Mathew (text and photo)
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