Talking to the Master

     It was the oddest thing.  Something that had never happened before.  There were no birds at the feeder.  None.

     Mother's four hook bird feeder pole sits on the north side of the house and has since she has been gone.  She loved to feed the birds and so do I.  I can view the activity from my kitchen window and enjoy the opportunity to see a new species of feathered friend.

     This year has been different.  I didn't fill the feeders until some time in January.  I had a large sunflower crop this past summer and cut all the heads off when they were dry and left them out for the birds.  They are laying in the backyard and I did notice the cardinals were giving them quite a working over.  Then it snowed.  Then it snowed some more.  All the sunflower heads were buried under the snow so I filled the feeders. 

    Nothing happened, no birds.  On a rare occasion, a pair of cardinals would visit late in the afternoon, but that was it.  This has gone on for weeks.  The feeders have never stayed filled this long and I've never had a winter that I had no birds.   On a good snowy day in the past, the birds could empty a full feeder in an afternoon.

     Being at a crossroad in my life, I sat down last week and asked the great Master of the Universe if what I was on the right track.  If what I wanted to accomplish in this life was the right thing for me to do.  If it was, I needed a sign...... please send the birds to my feeders......tomorrow.

     That was on a Saturday, the next day, nothing, no birds again.  It took the wind out of my sails.  If the Master could create a universe so vast that we are now just barely scratching the surface of understanding it, He could surely send the birds to my feeder.  I guessed I wasn't on the right track after all.  That was even more depressing.  Maybe my "problem" wasn't a big concern for the Master, there were a whole lot more pressing issues going on that needed attention more than mine.

     I spent the rest of the day wondering what I was supposed to do. Which way was I to turn?  

     The next day, Monday, I woke to a sound I hadn't heard for quite awhile, the chirp of a black-capped chickadee.  They are usually considered the blabber mouth of the neighborhood.  I ran downstairs to check out the feeders.  Still, no birds.  I checked several times throughout the day, but they were not there.  My proof reader reminded me that the universe has no time table.

     That is true, what we experience and measure as time really doesn't exist.  The only time there is, is now.  Even the subconscious part of our brains has no measurement of time.  That explains why we can wake, look at the clock, drift back to sleep and dream a scenario that seems like it lasts for hours, only to wake again and realize its only been 3 minutes since we last looked at the clock.

     By the time Tuesday rolled around, I had quit looking at the feeders.  What was the point?  I had my answer, I wasn't doing the right thing.  I still didn't know what the hell I was supposed to be doing, but obviously what I thought I wanted to do wasn't it. About 9 o'clock that morning I went back to the kitchen to refill my tea cup, as I walked past the window, something caught my eye.  I stopped and turned around.  I looked out the window, they were back.  Birds.  I had birds at the feeders.  Not the usual two cardinals, but finches and lots of them.  I snapped a picture and sent it to my proof reader.

     It didn't happen "tomorrow" like I had asked.  Maybe I looked like a spoiled child, stamping my foot, wanting it right now.  

     I do not believe in coincidences.  When we put labels on things that happen, we're missing the bigger picture.  We're missing the message, the Master does hear us and He's trying to tell us something.