Thought for the Week: Springwatch

Birds inspire other thoughts

The annual Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) watch is over for another year and Springwatch is around the corner. I am sure that many Quakers enjoy both. Taking an hour out to watch the range of avian visitors in the garden is a restful and rewarding experience. This year as ever, though, I felt a tinge of disappointment when my favoured birds didn’t appear.

I swear that I heard the goldfinch trilling away… but should I cheat and claim to have seen it? I resisted the urge to chase away the very fat pigeon and groaned as the two neighbourhood magpies came muscling in. I became conscious, too, of my bias, as I cheered along the little band of sparrows and urged the wren to peek out.

Yet, all these birds have their place.

As I watched and spotted it dawned on me that we could do with a personal or even corporate version. Might it do us some good to spend time regularly spotting what is going on in our lives – to recognise the greedy, fat side to us, the bossy, dominant, old crow as well as the light-hearted robin or the beautiful, tuneful finch and to put them into some kind of perspective – and to do the same for our Meetings and even our Yearly Meeting?

We could step back for a while to watch what is going on there; then, crucially, consider what to do with the information that we gather.

Have we created the right environment for this varied flock of feathered Friends to flourish?