Lessons from my Bird Feeder

The snow, ice and sleet are blessing us with their presence. Trading off one to the other. The world is a calm snow white. My little birds are on the feeders. I don’t know, 30  or 40 finches, sparrows, cardinals, chickadees, dove, juncos. On a near tree limb sat a male cardinal, a rufus-sided towhee and male bluebird. They were there for only a few seconds. You couldn’t script anything that pretty.

And I can see the reddish-purple of the house finches more brilliantly. And the yellow-rumped warbler shows off, the junco’s dark body with a white stomach looks like he sat in white paint. The cardinal is a deeper red than I recall. The bluebird!? Well, he’s a majestic sight.

They flit, chirp, fly off and come back, jump up to the feeder, fly away. Constant motion….then I saw it! How could I have missed it all this time? It’s always been there. Waiting for me to see it I guess. It’s the contrast.

Against the snow each of the birds is more brilliant. They stand out just a little more. Sometimes people and events need a contrasting backdrop. Something to help us see clearly. Learn the lesson. And there are some things that just take a while to see. Maybe if we work at finding that contrast it’ll help. Maybe it’s not always black or white, on or off. Maybe we just need to look a little longer. I’m sure  it’s there.

They’re back now. I better go feed them.

Tags: Attitude, Coaching, Commitment, Determination, Goals, Leadership, Loyalty, Productivity