I was watering flowers one morning. My wife loves to do it but the heat was too brutal so I did it for her. It is joy to her. It was just work to me.
I was on the front porch watering the petunias. I looked up and saw butterflies and bumblebees. Then something special.
I saw a hummingbird less than 5 feet away. It was feeding from the flowers. It would hover in and take a drink then back out…then reload at another. It must have seemed like the hummingbird equivalent of a gas station…acres of pumps. But it must have been gas station paradise…no payments.
It was amazing. I had my cell phone in my pocket so I thought of taking a picture…then of taking a video. Then I realized if I moved at all it would be over. The bird would disappear. It was like a magic.
It moved over until it was about 2 feet away. It never looked at me. It was dark green on its back. Its feathers were so fine they looked like green fur. I could barely see it wings moving. It was magnificent. I just looked until it flew away slowly…utterly fearless…into a tree.
I thought for a moment about it. My wife should have been there. She loves the flowers. She loves the birds. She would have been overjoyed.
I was so humbled and awed. I thought, “This is wonderful. This is God showing off.” Bumblebees were everywhere. I thought how ungainly they looked…lumbering around. The hummingbird looked like a jet fighter in hover mode. The bumblebees looked like tiny helicopters trying to make it back to base before they crashed. The butterflies looked like kites…blown up and around by every breeze.
Life…creation…it all looks different now. I water the plants…the plants take in the water…the bees and birds take in the nectar and care for their families. Maybe it is all a kind of magic…a creative dance.
I did not hear anything. The hummingbird did not hum…but maybe it was singing…maybe I will listen a little more closely. Maybe it was singing a Psalm that I have to be silent and still to hear.
I think I will listen…maybe I will hear it the next time.
Peace
This is the porch where it I saw all this…
