Wild Geese
by Rev. Dr. Amy Chilton on 02/02/23
The migrating geese have surprised me these past few weeks. As I listen to them overhead and watch them fly in their age-old formations, I wonder how they managed to stay this far into our winter. Why didn’t they turn their focus to warmer climates when the wind started blowing cold in November? Now here they are, just days before our first projected below 0 temps, heading south. As I watch them fly by, I am reminded of this poem by Mary Oliver: Wild Geese You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves. Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine. Meanwhile the world goes on. Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain are moving across the landscapes, over the prairies and the deep trees, the mountains and the rivers. Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air, are heading home again. Whoever you are, no matter how lonely, The world offers itself to your imagination, Calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting – Over and over announcing your place in the family of things. If my mind is elsewhere, the honks of those geese bring me right back to where I am – to the recognition of my cold hands, my dog pulling on her leash, and the color of the sky. Worry and grief can cause us to shut out the world we are part of – turning us inward where we ruminate on all we cannot control. In Matthew 6:25-34 we read Jesus telling his disciples not to “worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own.” He turns his disciples’ attention to the birds of the air, to the lilies of the field, and to the grass of the field. Look at those birds up there, he points, “they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.” Look at the lilies over there, he points, “they neither toil nor spin.” Jesus pointed his listeners to things they would have seen regularly – birds, flowers, and grass. Things that are part of the beloved creation. Things that can teach us and remind us to trust God with our cares. Things that can remind us to see the creation around us and to remember our “place in the family of things,” a place overseen by a God whose care for flora and fauna is a constant reminder of God’s care for us. Look around you today at the natural world – what reminders surround you of God’s ongoing and ever-present care? Perhaps the bulbs that are popping up or the shrubs whose swelling buds promise their ongoing life. Where do you find reminders of God’s care around you? Blessings, Pastor Amy
