Mon, Aug 10 2009

Nourishment

If you've done anything to attract birds to your garden, you know they have a lot of habits that are similar, but they can also be completely different from one another. Some eat seed on the ground. Some prefer a hanging feeder. Some will go beneath an overhang to get food and some will only eat out in the open. Flycatchers swoop from perches and nab their breakfast on the wing, while the California towhee forages with a forward jumping and scratching motion. Robins favor bugs, while house finches seek seed. Blue jays seem to be omnivores and can become quite friendly with you if they know you're going to give them raw peanuts in the shell. Hummingbirds sip at flowers or from feeders full of nectar, often hovering in mid-air. There are the larger carrion feeding birds that tend to scavenge and the owls that make a silent grab for food on run. Crows decimate corn crops and ducks dabble in water. They all must eat to survive, but they have many ways of getting nourishment.

Humans remind me of birds when it comes to spiritual nourishment. Sometimes we hurry through prayer or study, sometimes we scratch for meaning or we seek sweet nectar for spiritual energy in beautiful places. Some come after others have found food and take their fill while some hunt down the freshest of morsels. One method doesn't seem to be better than another in nature. Each seems comfortable with his or her style. No nature nugget is perfect, but birds do remind me that nourishment, literal or spiritual, doesn't have to be the same for everyone, or even the same for one, every time.

posted at: 15:16 | category: /Religious and Spiritual | link to this entry