birds

i stayed late after work today to run on the treadmill in the out-patient therapy gym. the treadmill faces a window that looks out into the employee parking lot. i like running at work because i can look outside while i run . . . most gyms you either stare at a tv screen or a blank wall or watch everyone else working out while you do the same. so even though the view is only of the parking lot and the few trees that surround that area, i appreciate it.

so today, my view was different because of the snow. how is it that snow can even make a parking lot look beautiful? anyway, what i noticed more though was the little birds (i think they were robins) that were hopping around on the snow-covered grass outside the window. they kept pecking at the ground as if they were scarfing up some delicious morsels for dinner that were too small for my eyes to see.

and then the verse came to my head:

consider the ravens: they do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. and how much more valuable you are than birds!

and i looked at these little birds, with their round bellies, gathered together with their little bird friends, looking thru the snow to find the yummy little snacks that the Lord had left for them. and after awhile they flew off . . . probably to their little bird nests to snuggle down under the warmth of their little bird feathers for a lovely little nap.

food.
companionship.
shelter.
warmth.
rest.
all for these little birds.
all from the hand of the Father.

how much more valuable are we than birds.

storytellers

i have been thinking lately . . . or maybe just noticing . . . how much i love reading good stories. actually, more than the stories, i like good storytellers. my friend kate is one of these. sienna howard is one too. i mean, i really, thoroughly enjoy these people. their stories, yes, but even moreso i just enjoy them. the people themselves. wonder why . . .

maybe i like these people because they possess something that i don't - the ability to make you see and hear an experience. maybe it's because they bring out creativity in me. maybe it's because they make me feel something. but i think, more than any of those, it is that these are people that really "see" things.

in order to write it, you have to be aware of it. these people think deeply and richly . . . they are aware of the small details of life . . . the sounds, the smells, atmosphere . . . of the things that make a particular experience truly rich and real . . . the things that make that moment precisely what it is. and they are sensitive and insightful to the reasons, the purposes, the underlying issues that linger in and under and around and within the stories that they tell.

i like these people.

because they make me aware of the details . . . and they prompt me to pay attention to what all those little details do to me on the inside (how the effect my thoughts, my feelings, my actions even). these people help me to see life more fully.

i like good storytellers.