I realize this is a cardinal…I couldn’t quite capture the goldfinch, so I figured any backyard bird was better than no bird!
“So have you seen the goldfinches?” she asks, as I hand her the plastic bucket to be filled with birdseed. Nope, I tell her, no goldfinches. Cardinals, dark-eyed juncos, chickadees, nuthatches. But no goldfinches. “I’m surprised,” she says, as I pay her for the seed. “They’re pretty common at backyard feeders this time of year. Keep your eye open for them. You’ll see them.”
Three days later, on Sunday, I sit in the sunroom. I’ve finished my Bible reading, and now, I’m simply staring out the window at the river birch tree in the backyard. And that’s when I notice the two tiny birds perched high in the branches, a hint of greenish-gold on their breasts. They’re not the brilliant yellow I expect, but the birdseed lady had warned me that they tend to brown up during the winter. I’ve spotted two goldfinches.
“How willingly we sacrifice the days of our lives to trivial distractions – silly computer games, unnecessary errands, useless worry,” writes Katrina Kenison in her new book, Magical Journey. “We get caught up in our petty concerns and miss the beauty unfolding right in front of us; rushing headlong into the next thing, we fail to appreciate the blessing of the only thing we can really claim as ours to own, the present moment.”
You know I’ve struggled with this new practice of honoring the Sabbath. I’ve argued with my kids over Monopoly, paced the house restless, haven’t quite known what to do with myself for much of the time. But this, the moment I spot the two goldfinches, is the reason why I persist.
I waste a lot of time on the computer in my everyday life. I run unnecessary errands. I fret over situations that are out of my control. But on Sundays, I break from those routines and habits. And even though my Sabbaths aren’t perfect, I always find at least a moment of rest, a moment when I put aside my petty concerns and catch the beauty unfolding, right before my eyes.
The goldfinches are there, beauty in my own backyard. I simply had to stop long enough to notice them.
What are you noticing in your stopping these days? {And have you read Katrina Kenison’s new book? It’s really quite lovely}
