Seeker and finder!

Watching this Magpie robin foraging in or garden for its feed was an awakening experience for me ! 

I have noticed Magpie robins in the garden moving around searching for their feed on earlier occasions.  After finding  a berry and feeding on it, this Magpie robin was seen on a tree searching for crawling insects on a stem. The Magpie robin searches where feed can be found! It takes what is given !

I noticed a Barbet in our garden while being on its feeding sprawl. It also takes what is given by the garden. 

Birds receive what is given by nature! 

A sunbird finds its nectar and a squirrel and Bulbul find their feed at the feeding station in our garden!

All the photos above tell a  story of taking what is given! 

But what is another human story that we come across among the civilised nations! 

Have they become grabbers? We can take what we need or grab because we are driven by greed!

I feel disturbed when I explore this theme further. I suspect that greed creates an irresistible pressure to grab and possess, when material wealth acquisition becomes the motivation to live for!

A senior citizen living alone with his retirement benefits cooks meal for three others each day to deliver a lunch packet to each of them in the neighbourhood who are bedridden! Although their families take care of the sick member, the retired senior citizen offers one meal every day for them. He is not tired of doing this for them because, he believes, that 'he was given enough to share with others'!

That is living with a vocation as against living for acquisition!

Birds thrive on taking what they are given! 

A visually impaired lady who was qualified in the civil service examination, said, ' I was helped at very step of my learning journey'! 

That is a pointer to what giving to enable others can do to make a difference !

The birds are seekers and finders to take what they need!

They are not seekers to grab and dispossess others of their due portion!

It is in this light I view the current war imposed on Iran! One nation far away usurps the power to destabilise a sovereign nation out of its own covetousness and finds an ally in one another nation that has eliminated a neighbouring country to exist in violation of the post send world war consensus. The leadership of Venezuela was eliminated and its fossil oil is feeding a greedy nation!

I suppose we live in a world of opportunities when unjust practices dominate!

During a recent visit to one of the north eastern states, I happened to hear from some families who suffered from the ethnic conflict in Manipur lasting over two years now, about the immense help they received for the education of their children from strangers, They sponsored the education of children in boarding schools! Those families spoke about how much they were 'given' during this troubled times!

While the world is a home for 'takers and grabbers', it is also a hospitable place for givers ! That is a reason for celebration and living with hope !

A hymn by Fred Kaan, Help us to accept each other, summarised the inner longing that most of us live with:

"Teach us Lord, our lessons, 

As in our daily life,

We struggle to be human,

And search for hope and faith.

Teach is to care for people,

For all, not just some,

To love them as we find them,

Or as they become.

Let your acceptance change us,

So that we may be moved,

In living situations

To do the truth in love.

To practise Your acceptance,

Until we know by heart

The table of forgiveness,

And laughter's healing art.

Lord, for today's encounters

With all who are in need,

Who hunger for acceptance,

For righteousness and bread,

We need new eyes for seeing,

New hands for holding on,

Renew us with Your Spirit,

Lord free us, make us one."

 

M.C. Mathew( text and photo)