Have you ever noticed that pain and worry have a way of distracting us from the peace that’s right in front of us?
I was reminded of this recently, as I sat at the kitchen table fretting over a tall stack of worries. Something flickering outside the window caught my attention, and when I stood to investigate, I looked into the tiny face of a hummingbird. He didn’t fly away, but hovered there, watching me as I watched him. And I smiled, appreciating in that moment a simple, joyful peace.
About fifteen years ago, I visited a friend’s farmette and was enthralled by the dozens of colorful hummingbirds flying around his cottage. I set out to welcome these tiny birds to my own yard, planting what the neighbors laughingly called weeds: honeysuckle, trumpet vine, Rose of Sharon, even going so far as to dig them up from the side of the road. Friends gave me feeders that I filled with sugar-water or nectar and hung high enough not to tempt neighborhood cats.
Gradually the hummingbirds did come; so tiny and fast that I often mistook them for insects, and over the years I loved sitting peacefully on the patio with my family and morning coffee, watching the birds zoom in and zip away as they darted around each other almost instantly.
All this came back to me as I stared at that little bird through my kitchen window. He didn’t flinch or fly away but lingered there, in the moment, with me, and I remembered Jesus’s words:
“Look at the birds in the sky; they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are not you more important than they? Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your lifespan? Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself (Matthew 6:26-27, 34).
That stack of future worries was entirely in my imagination, and though some of them might happen, many will not. Yes, tomorrow will take care of itself. It always does.
And peace is here in this moment – in a bird, or a flower, or a hug from someone I love.
Sometimes, that peace races away as fast as a hummingbird, but sometimes, if you pay attention, you can find it staring you right in the face.