Consider This!

Redwing, sitting on a branch

All around us, the first signs of Spring are beginning to emerge.  Snowdrops, Primroses and Crocuses are already in full bloom and the daffodils are now beginning to make an appearance.  Oh the sweet joy of spring!  Those first rays of sun can bring such a cheer to one's countenance.

Recently, I discovered the very addictive Merlin App, which can be used to record and help identify birds by their song.  Whenever I'm out walking the dog in our local park now, I've been stopping for a few moments to play a game of Avian Guess Who!

Along with all the typical garden birds one would expect to find in a South London park, such as the Robin, the Blue Tit, the Magpie, the Blackbird and the Crow, I have been delighted to discover a whole host of other regular visitors too.

I've learned to distinguish the Coal Tit from the Great Tit.  The Dunnock from the Sparrow.  I've discovered there are Gold Finches and even Great Spotted Woodpeckers in the canopies overhead!  Who knew?  But my most exciting discovery happened one Sunday morning before church.  A brownish bird with a flash of red, too big to be a robin, was hopping around in the rose garden.  A Chaffinch perhaps?

I needed a closer look.  But alas, the swift bird had temporarily scarpered. I froze still and waited for it to re-emerge.  Two or three minutes later, there it was on the path beneath the hedge!  This time I got a really good look at it.  I frantically consulted Google about a Brown Speckled Bird with a tinge of red beneath it's wing.

The results were unanimous.  It was a Redwing!  The Merlin App agreed, confirming the bird's identity by it's song -and I was delighted to be able to tick a new bird off my list! 

Nature's Wisdom

Nature can be full of life-lessons that we can use in our writing.  There are many bible verses inviting us to consider the world around us.

Psalm 8:3 says: 'When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars which You have set in place, what is mankind that You are mindful of them, human beings that You care for them?"

Proverbs 6:6 admonishes the sluggard, saying: "Go to the ant!  Consider its ways and be wise!"

Jesus Himself encourages us not to be anxious by urging us to: "Consider the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not of more value than they?" (Matthew 6:26)

In the same passage, He also invites us to: "Consider the lilies, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these."

Inspired by Nature

The beloved British Poet, William Wordsworth, wrote many beautiful poems, which were inspired by his keen observation of the natural world.  The most famous of these was about a bank of daffodils.  One of his poems contains the words:  "Come forth into the light of things, let nature be your teacher."

In this wonderful Spring Season, I'd like to encourage you to get outdoors and consider the world around you! Creation can be such a wonderful inspiration for our writing, because ultimately it points us to our wonderful, wise Creator!  

What lessons can we learn from nature that we can pass on to our readers?  If birds and lilies can teach us not to be anxious, what might we learn from the wondrous arrival of spring?  The dawn chorus of the birds?  The rising and setting of the sun?  The roaring of the ocean? The soaring of an eagle?  

Even if our words just bring a smile or a joyful thought - let's consider how we can use nature to point people to God!