Things are beginning to happen out there in the natural world. Things that make me feel even more happy than usual! Because the trees are covered in blossom. Our local woodpigeon is busy building her nest in a thicket of buddleia. And best of all, the swallows have returned and are energetically darting backwards and forwards across our garden.
Now, of course, I’m a domesticated bird so I don’t go through all of the bother of migrating. But I really take my crest off to the swallows because they’ve just flown around 6000 miles to spend the Summer with us. Yes, 6000 miles all the way up from South Africa. And on route, they’ve had to fly across tropical rainforests, the Sahara Desert, the Mediterranean, the Alps and then finally, the English Channel. They’ve all completed the most extraordinary journey to come and be with us. But that’s not all….
Yearling swallows navigate their way back to the site where they themselves were reared. Here they find a mate and pair up for life. They stay together through the breeding season and then split up for the long journey South, only to be reunited again the following Summer. And together, they go about the arduous business of building a nest and rearing a brood. There can be up to five chicks in each nest, and each chick needs to be fed around 1000 flies every day. It’s a Herculean task for the parents, and yet they do it without complaining. Yes, they just get on with everything, chattering out their Summer song of pure joy. They are living, breathing miracles, -one of many all around us. And they also serve as messengers of hope after the bleakness and emptiness of Winter. Swallows should inspire us to believe in new beginnings, even on the very darkest of days, and inspire us to live out our lives to the full. Because they seem to know something that a lot of us don’t. They’re born optimists and know that the seemingly impossible can still be a reality, and one that’s within our grasp……
“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”
(Albert Einstein: [1879-1955]: Brilliant German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of relativity).
“True hope is swift, and flies with swallow’s wings…...”
(William Shakespeare: [C.1564-1616]: Probably the greatest English playwright of all time).)
“I can do all things through him who gives me strength.”
(Philippians 4:13)
“…. for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.”
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