When we moved to our Hickory Hilltop I expected to have deer eating out of my hands and rabbit running in and out from under the deck. I was a little disappointed until I began to observe that the birds love this little acclivity. I believe one of the reasons is the crabapple tree. It just hit full bloom this week.
It’s snarled branches offer no reason for their twists and turns. Their departures arc in any direction without apparent outside forces hindering straight lines. But birds favor it. Wild cats don’t seem to bother trying to run those unpredictable routes unless they themselves are the prey and have fled the predictor for the same safety.
Out the northern window the pink peddles are pouring out of the bramble-like branches like salmon stained snow in a blizzard. The ground coverage is better than what wet winters offer most years. The tree’s plumage will soon disappear but the nesting will still be hidden beneath the bountifulness of the camouflage of dense green coverage. Only the sounds of the mocking bird who rules the roost like a prince perched on an unknown throne will disclose its populated estate.
To my delight, prettier songs break loose when that blandly colored chattering monarch is away on royal duties. In stereo the civilians, the feathered creatures of the kingdom, sound out one serenade after another. And when they go quiet, the silent stillness is so clarion that without sound, the message soothes my heart and calls to me like the Spirit of God calling out to Elijah in the middle of the drought and in the midst of the accusations that he is to blame. God whispers to him and directs him to the Wadi Cherith where he will find a haven from the drought and the draconian dangers of tenacious seditionary captains out to persecute him. Then peace filters in with it’s preview of heaven like a gentle rain prancing over my arms. The sensation is like that of the warm sand on the golden California beach.
Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah: “Leave here, turn eastward, and hide at the Wadi Cherith where it enters the Jordan. You are to drink from the wadi. I have commanded the ravens to provide for you there.” 1 Kings 17:2-4
Stephen Williams