A Lenten approach to Birdwatching (AKA me going entirely off track and writing about Lent and barely any about birds at all)

 

 Lenten-themed banner

Welcome to the beginning of Lent! It's somewhat like a tall mountain that you have to toil up, but at least there's the end that you can look forward to! What a lovely reward. (But first: the mountain.)

(Foreword: I am assuming most of you are Catholic or Protestant. If you aren't, good for you for looking at my blog. I would encourage you to read the post ahead, but you may not understand everything, so I'm not forcing you.)

Just a casual thought: some people like mountain climbing. (I don't, but you get the allegory, I hope.) In a similar way, some people like the Lenten sacrifices. (I think I do, it starts out fun and then I get tired after a while. Which is usually by Holy week, when you have to stand up for two hours listening to the Gospel. *Chuckles softly*.)

 Lent is a time for restraining yourself further than you usually do, to take a step back and look at the world with a new perspective. So, with this new view, you may notice some of the things you do are utter folly. Take the beam out of your own eye, before you take the splinter out of your brother's. (Or sister's.)

So, I ask you all, why not just sit outside and enjoy the present? Don't worry about that 14 page (or however long) essay you have due in a week or so, just remember that God created Nature, and birds and such, and that you don't have "all day." Try to wrench yourself away from Social Media (or whatever) to spend some minutes outside. (Either way, you're still not getting anything done but at least you're also caring for your body, getting vitamin D by being outside, even on a cloudy day.)

(And vitamin D helps your bones absorb calcium, which is necessary.)

Lent is about removing the distractions between yourself and God. Or at least trying your best. You may forget and accidentally do something you resolved not to do, that's okay. God is forgiving. He doesn't look at what you've done, but at who you really are, and who He meant you to be. And that's where prayer comes in. Prayer is talking to God. (Now, you may all experience God best in different forms of prayer, but it's still the same; you're communicating with God, developing bonds of love. Bonds that mark you as his own, and not the Devil's.)

Perhaps you're like me, in that you spend a lot of time on screens. That can be really distracting for prayer. So instead, try to separate yourself from all that unnecessary screen time, and instead, focus on God. I'm focusing on encountering God through Nature, which really boils down to one of the three aspects of God: Beauty.

God is Beautiful. All of the things that you think as beautiful (such as landscapes) points back to him because they reflect His perfect Beauty. Nature is beautiful, and also points to God. Which means you will not be dissatisfied with your few minutes outside. Just let the simple beauty of it all wash over you and listen to silence, or the wind, or birds, whatever. Remember that God made all of these things. (If you aren't able to do this, you could perhaps form a collage of beautiful scenery, and look at the pictures, reminding yourself that God made these beautiful things.)

Well, that basically sums up my feelings about the subject, and I haven't even really began the main part of the post yet! (It is strange how we humans can prattle along and forget about other things.)

Now I ask you: Did you ever wonder why you rarely see dead birds on the ground? 

Most of the dead birds that you've seen on the ground are related to human-caused accidents, but not all are. (My brother saw a house finch that had frozen to death, eek, poor thing.)

Other deaths that don't leave the bird's corpse intact are: predation, or otherwise the carcass was scavenged too fast to remain intact for long.

I used to have a yellow bellied Sapsucker that came to my feeder, but it hasn't come since the new year. I have to conclude, then, that either a) it has moved, or b) it has died. I'm pointed at the latter, personally.

It's sad when things die, but it is a part of our fallen nature. We can't escape that until we get to heaven and are renewed.

Now: Chemistry comes into the fray.

Birds are made out of atoms, right? (I think mostly carbon.) We are also made out of atoms. (Also mostly carbon.) So, if the birds can die, so can we. If we are made out of the same things as the birds that can die, then so we can also die.

We are fallen. Sin brings death with it, and it cannot be escaped. Temptation can be resisted, however, so not all is lost.

Lent reminds us that we are fallible, but not beyond help. We die, but we do so to gain new life. We sin, but we can be forgiven. All you need to do is trust in God this Lent. Let him speak to you in the silence of your hearts. Let him speak to you through Nature, through the beauty that echoes his perfect Beauty. 

I have a few last things to say: If you feel like your prayers are not doing anything, pray with renewed fervor, for God loves arid prayer. Pray for each other: I like to write down all of the names in a little book of prayer: it can be a piece of paper, or a notebook. That way, you don't have to quote every single person's name whom you are praying for. 

We will all one day lose many things precious to us, and the most precious are our friends and family. But remember that there is heaven and we may meet them again.

Happy birding. Remember that birds are mortal, and so are we.