The Hummingbird

Setting Our Hearts Aflame!
The Hummingbird

Last weekend I decided I wanted to follow last Sunday’s Gospel’s advice to “come and rest awhile.” I did have a busy weekend planned with not a lot of free time. We had family visiting for a 50th wedding anniversary celebration and lots of festivities planned. After everyone left I had to finish a paper for a class I am taking on the New Testament. I got out all my books, laptop, and refreshments and set up camp on my back deck facing the woods. I really did want to rest awhile but the paper loomed large.

About 15 minutes into my work a hummingbird came to visit me. He and I were just inches apart, he hovered and just stared at me eye-to-eye and then flew away. I wondered what the hummingbird was trying to say to me. (He looked like he wanted to speak.) I took a break and blogged about the experience on Facebook. A cousin of mine wondered if it was sent by our deceased grandmother’s spirit as a message of encouragement to me and my thoughts went immediately to an elderly aunt who had just passed away the night before in Wyoming. My Aunt Mae died while up in the Big Horn Mountains enjoying an annual family reunion. She loved the mountains and her family and passed away on the mountain and in the arms of her family.

I thought again of the hummingbird. I discovered that birds in the Bible represent the soul’s flight at death (Ps 124:7). Perhaps the bird did symbolize my Aunt Mae on her way to heaven and she gave to me the gift of hope in new life. Let us take some time this summer and visit with our elderly relatives and friends. Let us live life in the now and tell each other how much we care. Don’t wait—now is the time!- God Bless, Holly Clark