The sparrow sized bird flew into my classroom. Instantly, it realized it was caught in a room and flew frantically in circles. It landed a few times on my American Flag and when tired, it rested on the neat piles of paper towels. That’s when I buzzed into the front office for help. Actually, I am the “help” since I’m the Naturalist of the school but I was also in charge of the 19 students in the room. The custodian didn’t have a clue about wild birds.
The Kindergarteners kept hands on their crayons but were too excited about our flapping bird to even look at their work in crayon swatches and watercolors of Eric Carle’s “Rooster’s off To See the World”. A real beakster flew in lost circles around the room! Feeling sad like Rooster, it wanted to go home too.
Like the crayon painting of a woman holding a bird, I was the woman of the painting and became her again for the capture. Again in a long pinkish dress, in a similar singular cut outfit, I climbed the legal 3-step stool and angled for the best position for my arm. Long practiced lizard-catching breath came with breath cessation. I stopped breathing for that moment and the bird was in my hand. Poor thing must have given up being exhausted and hopeless. Grasping it just enough to hold it from flying off, I figured the creature was in horrible terror of being eaten.
It was a wren type and sparrow sized. I don’t see many sparrows in this part of South Florida but in looking up similar marking, the Yellow-Green Vireo came up as a likely candidate.
The children were delighted that I didn’t catch it by the legs to hold for them like a dead duck. They knew I kissed it and set it free from my open hands to the tall canopy of our natural hammock.
The custodian went back to administration and in his whitened eyes and husky voice spooked them all with: “She caught it in her hand! ”
This crayon painting stands at the door of my classroom. The painting came to life for the students and the custodians. It didn’t seem like a Vision when I created it for homeschoolers over 20 years ago. It seemed like a natural outgrowth of thought: my garden was a native Floridian wildlife garden with a large variety of colorful birds. It was a natural thought born from an earthy garden as inspiration.
Now it also is a Vision. This vision is me opening my hands to set free the tiny bird back to its trees.
What impact does this vision have on me now? This vision fulfilled in the early days of May when the north american Spring bursts with flowers assures me that gorgeous little moments in life are all aspects of the divine. And it gives me hope to expand personally to allow more serendipity to play frolic and godly fun. It was the moment of a super numinous smile: it was the smile the bird had as she flew straight up.