Humans are often surprised when they learn about the longevity of parrots. I’m a millennium bird so that makes me 21. Senegal Parrots are usually expected to live for around 40 years. But my larger cousins can go on to 70 or in some cases 100! My owner once met a rather moth-eaten macaw which was said to be Winston Churchill’s old parrot companion. It certainly knew a lot of swear words and muttered all sorts of things about the Germans. The macaw’s owner claimed (some years ago) that it was then 103 years old.

A 100 plus years can seem an incredible lifespan for a human, let alone a parrot, but actually it amounts to a tiny blip of time when you consider it against the age of our Earth and the universe around us. And it’s an even smaller blip of time if you compare it to the promise of eternity in Heaven.
And if we stop to think about ourselves today, I wonder what’s different about us compared to three, five or 20 years ago? Every passing year has the potential to change our particular circumstances. But it’s not our circumstances that I am thinking about here. I’m wondering how we ourselves may have changed. Do we now hold a different set of values? Have our priorities changed? Do we view humans or the world around us in a different light? What currently troubles our soul or breaks our heart? Have we mellowed? Calmed down? Become more tolerant and understanding? Have we learnt to forgive and how to love? What have we been able to give to others or offer to the world as our personal legacy? And are we more aware of God’s presence inside ourselves?

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