Showing posts with label bird. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bird. Show all posts

Monday, June 26, 2023

Enough, Just to Sing

 





It took quite a few attempts to locate, zoom in, capture and identify
 this little Sunday-afternoon 'songster';
a fledgling rose-breasted grosbeak 


(Please correct me if I am mistaken!)





Through dark shadows of love’s sorrows
Over the mayhem of life
Without worry about morrows
Unaffected by vain strife
Seeking no self-aggrandizement
Performing without applause
Or eye-catching advertisement
To attract creature to cause

Not by warble-envy taunted
Nor by fear or dread deterred
But with melodies undaunted
Sings and sings the little bird
Enough to know its Creator
Who grants each minstrel its part
Hears beyond the pitch and meter 
To the timbre of the heart

…oh may we learn by example
From this little feathered thing
How to be content and humble
...enough just to sing and sing
By bias and vaunt unhindered 
Honored to take our place
Enough just to praise the Giver
For our portion of His grace


© Janet Martin

Matt.6:26-27
Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns,
 and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.
 Are you not much more valuable than they? 
 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life[a]?

Tuesday, January 11, 2022

Beautiful Pause...

Mystery guest (ID help welcome!)
A bird expert has suggested that it looks like 
a female Brown-headed Cowbird!
Thank-you!


Mourning Dove

Downy Woodpecker

Juncos 


Goldfinch and chickadee


The nuthatch wouldn't sit still long enough
for me to get a clear shot...

...and the cardinal got away before I could get a photo!

A feathered flurry of delight
Brings laughter to an afternoon
Soft-pillowed in billows of white
As music notes in nature’s tune
Are muffled by the gale that sweeps
Across the countryside and lane
Where summer songs wait, sound asleep
Beneath a snowflake counterpane

…and it is beautiful to pause
To ‘look at the birds of the air’
And feel a bit better because
Of Who bestows to them, kind care
And to remember what He said,
'Are you not of more worth than they?'
And trust Him for our daily bread
And every other come-what-may

© Janet Martin

Matt.10:31
Do not fear therefore; 
you are of more value than many sparrows.

...then, just as I finished posting I looked up
and lo and behold, I espied a flash of red!
Mr. Cardinal was back
(a bit of a rarity at our feeders)
 but all I could capture
 was the top of his head and few tail-feathers😅




oh, and the nuthatch seems more relaxed this morning too😊

One of the first country songs I recall from my early teen years!


 



(one of the first songs I learned as a child)





Tuesday, October 12, 2021

Life's Learning Curves


Imagine if we had visual signs to warn us 
when we are about to make a bad turn
on the road of  life...



I'd like to think they would make us at least think twice, right?


Dawn always looks so lovely and innocent...

Who knows what waits to rush its gates
and meld into The Road of Life...


No matter who we are, as we travel on the road of life
we are bound to meet them; learning curves.
Sometimes we are kindly spared catastrophe.
Sometimes we are not.
but there is a silver lining if we learn from these curves;
if we become a little slower to leap (to conclusions)
A little more willing to wait (for answers)
A little more like an owl...wiser😔

A wise old owl sat in an oak,
The more he heard, the less he spoke;
The less he spoke, the more he heard;
Why aren't we all like that wise old bird?

Author: Unknown

I didn't see a wise old owl in an oak yesterday
but I did get a few nice pictures of what I learned today are 
Double-crested Cormorants




Sometimes life’s learning curves can overtake us by surprise
Where oft we underestimate the hurts that make us wise
For better or for worse, want’s hunger is riddled with traps
Where consequence lasts so much longer than good judgement’s lapse

Sometimes life’s learning curves seem to take a quick, cruel twist
But we, by God’s mercies accrue more catastrophes missed
Yet, when the recompense that follows choice is stark and swift
What looks like loss at first allows us to gain wisdom’s gift

Sometimes we owe life’s learning curves a little more respect
Where what we think we know deserves a meeker intellect
God’s goodness bound to overthrow that which hinders His peace
Because the grace whereby we go is earnest in its lease

Sometimes life’s learning curves are blessings in bitter disguise
Because, sometimes scenery blurs discernment’s keener eyes
Then, sometimes Someone tips the cart by foolish impulse led
To turn ‘It’ (us) purer in the heart and wiser in the head

© Janet Martin


If any of you lack wisdom, 
let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, 
and upbraideth not; 
and it shall be given him.

The fear of the LORD 
is the beginning of knowledge:
but fools despise 
wisdom and instruction.





Sunday, February 7, 2021

Time Is a Bird of Prey



It floods the earth with seasons rich with Beauty's boundless cast...

And the greatest beauty of all;

He loves us with an everlasting love.
Jer.31:3

and He tells us to look at the birds...

(which all bird watchers and feeders in Canada have no problem doing these days,
the feeders an absolute feather-flurry these cold, snowy mid-winter days!!)


Every now and then the birds disappear and then I see why
as the shadow of a Bird of prey floats across the snow...

(Unlike Time, from which no one can hide😉)
 



Time leaves its mark on faces, places, wisdom’s crowning snows 
It tumbles from God’s grace, like a river that stilly flows 
It floods the earth with seasons rich with Beauty’s boundless cast 
And stitch by stich unravels future while weaving the past 

Time does not change its ways though best known for the change it brings 
Where nothing stays the same for long on its gossamer wings 
It is a dauntless teacher, leaving no student unsought 
The foolish scorn its lecture but the wise are humbly taught 

Time stuns we, all first-timers in its only one-go-round 
Where deftly/definitely getting older is our very common ground 
As we weather and shoulder, by the grace of God above 
The feather and the boulder of His everlasting love 

Time is a bird of prey devouring each day with ease
To scatter in its wake the warring ache of memories
As it flies faster, faster, so it seems, yet tick and tock
Have never deviated from its elemental clock

Time is a buffet table laden with morsels of choice
And although much is taken much remains to give Thought voice
Where Choice speaks far more plainly than man's vain verbosity
And tethers the selection to accountability

Time is a gift; the Giver knows the number of our days 
How far the river flows before it empties into graves 
Where only the immortal soul transcends the mortal shell 
Thus, time takes a most sacred toll and we should heed it well 

© Janet Martin 



note; as I was posting this a sparrow-hawk sailed in out of nowhere and snagged a bitty bird😢

It's a 'bird eat bird world out there', so watch out for the hawks!

Friday, May 15, 2020

The Earth in May...

this morning is rain-misty gray rather than the riveting intro of yesterday...
Happy Middle-May Day!

 Yesterday colour flurry at the feeders was delightfully distracting all day long!



Rain falls like mist, untwisting hills and halls of lustrous green
It piques the cheeky courage of plumes huddled in the bud
How lovely is earth’s vista after showers wash it clean
And flowers frill the furrows that had long been sporting mud

Nature’s cocoon pulses with butterflied and blossomed wings
Nothing can keep at bay what Great Creator God ordains
Where a Master Musician modulates each season’s strings
And none can compose melodies with richer, sweeter strains

The bower rings with birdsong hymns and perfect happiness
The earth in May births purest mirth as lace garb is unfurled
And hope renews its vows beneath the boughs of lilac-tress
Each new day like a picnic-basket open to the world

Methinks the earth in May is wonder always on the verge
Of being wowed anew by miracles as old as Time
Where we will never weary of watching the Maker splurge
In oriel of iris or the bloom-bell’s mystic chime

The woodland is a palace welcoming both rich and poor
To wander, wonder-smitten where beauty’s bud-geysers spill
To deck its halls with leaf mosaics and mossy velour
‘Come unto Me’ the Keeper beckons, ‘linger and be still’

The earth in May is like a canvas where the paint runs wild
It reminds us of life that teems beneath the seeming sod
Where what seemed dead and buried lilts like laughter of a child
And wakens us once more to the kind faithfulness of God

© Janet Martin

 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens;
    let your glory be over all the earth.
Psalm 57:5




Friday, May 17, 2019

Because Beauty Really Is In The Eye Of The Beholder...


 What do you see?
For all this spring has not been, it has been a bird-lover's paradise!
We are enjoying a rainbow of feathered flurry!
Here are a few shots from the past 24 hours...
Above; male Baltimore oriole...below; female

 Above; killdeer sitting on a nest in our garden;
lucky for her there has been no tilling or planting activity so far to disturb her!
Below; Rose-breasted Grosbeak

 above; ruby-breasted nuthatch...below gold finches

 above; bluejay...I really wish I could have gotten a shot of the flock of approx. 8!!!
below; mourning dove all in a huff because of the newcomer(the grosbeak:)
 and this small bird below is an immature female oriole! 
(who new, birds have immature females too. 😅 )

My pics are not perfect due to shooting through a screen and tot-smudges on the window and a camera that has trouble focusing but you get a bit of an idea what fun we are having!
There are many varieties of sparrows visiting as well!
below a blurry shot of a chipping sparrow (or a song-sparrow?)



We all came and looked and saw
Criticism found the flaw
Love found hope and beauty’s bloom
Misery saw trouble loom
Thankfulness sang joyfully
Self-pity cried ‘woe is me’
Fear saw the approaching night
Faith was awe-struck by the light
Greed saw little to amaze
Worshipers were filled with praise

© Janet Martin