From Wendell Berry:
Since, despite the stern demands
of scientist and realist, we will always
be supposing, let us suppose
that Nature gave the world flowers
and birdsong as a language, by which
it might speak to discerning humans.
And what must we say back? Not
just thanks or praise, but acts
of kindness bespeaking kinship
with creatures and with Nature, acts
faithful as the woods that dwells in place
time out of mind, self-denying
as the parenthood of the birds, and like
the flowers humble and beautiful.
(Sabbaths, 2012 VIII, This Day, p. 383.)
I am taken by the idea that we should speak back to the birds with more than thanks or praise, but acts of kindness bespeaking kinship. We are blessed to share our backyard with a pair of Northern Cardinals. Our first day with snow on the ground, I will fill the birdfeeder…
Let us pray for (with?) our creaturely kin today. I invite you to name them and speak back to them with acts of kindness.
