Finding Beauty, Hope, and Love

Yesterday, I shared with you that I don’t have the words to make sense of the images we’re seeing on the news.  At times, I feel so powerless to do anything that can help to soften the blow that each day brings, to remind myself that there is more beauty and love in our world than there is anger and hate.  I know in my heart that it’s true, but it helps to have a reminder.

I invited you to share photos of the good in your day. You did, adding pictures of pretty flowers blooming in your yard, fresh food harvested from your gardens, dogs and cats being adorable, and farm animals reaching their faces to the sun.  With every photo, my heart and soul were renewed.  I could feel the hope creeping back in with each image.

Then, on the very day I had asked you to share your reminder of the good, to push aside the distressing news and reach our collective hands into the void to pull beauty closer,  I made the most amazing discovery.  As we were out picking the day’s harvest of raspberries, I pushed aside a thorny raspberry cane and this nest was revealed. 

For weeks now, we have been picking ripe berries in this patch each day, yet it had remained hidden from our sight.  It was in the midst of our raspberry patch all this time, just inches away from our working hands.  It seemed so fitting that it revealed itself on the day that I needed to see it most.

As I stood there, I was shocked that it had remained undisturbed for so long.  The eggs had hatched here sheltered by the thorns on the raspberry canes as they created a living roof for their home.  I presume that the baby birds grew big and strong before leaving the safety of the nest behind as fledglings to find their way in the world. 

Perhaps they are still here on our farm, flitting about as so many creatures do among our flower and vegetable gardens. Perhaps they have observed us harvesting ripe raspberries and blackcaps from the spot they once called home.

I think that I’ll choose to believe that they have chosen to stay here on our farm, that they have found a home among the branches of one of our centuries old trees.  When I heard songbirds singing this morning as I swung open the enormous door of the old barn, I smiled at the thought that those birds might be among those adding a beautiful cacophony of sound to my morning.

Thank you, little birds for a reminder that brushing aside life’s thorny branches often reveals something tender and beautiful.  Reach deep for the beauty and love today friends and share what you find with all of us so that we can be reminded of the good.