A SMALL BIRD WITH A BIG VOICE

It wasn't the usual perky chirping of birds outside my window this time of the morning. This particular chirp seemed big that it would make you think it could only come from a bigger bird. So I peeked out the window to see and lo!! -- there it was atop the telephone cable just close to my solitary mast tree outside the patio. Brown, yellow breast, a long tail and small .... and it sang one more chirpy strain before it flitted away farther to the top of the trees. It made such a delightful sound I wished that it had stayed longer with his song.

Great things can come from small packages.

If we would only pay close attention we will see just how much grand the day can be as it's filled with plenty of wonderful things from tiny unexpected sources. And these create so much joy and beauty far more than your mind or heart can hold.

Have you noticed that we are bit by bit losing that special ability to appreciate the small, inexpensive, taken for granted stuff of our mundane existence?  We are pushed by media (mostly) to look for the greater and grander expressions of happiness, wealth, experience, novelty, excitement, thrill.... etc. Nothing wrong with that (it has its uses too) but those are not the only things which life is made of. In fact, life is made of.......

-- the sunrise flowing from a tiny glow at early dawn
-- a bud which opens to a lovely flower in full bloom
-- the kindness of a man looking to be in his eighties who stepped-in and halted traffic to allow us to cross the busy street with such a pleasant smile on his wrinkled face! This happened yesterday during our Visita Iglesia.
-- the happiness shown on the face of a little boy when his mother bought him a stick of kamote-Q (fried sweet potatoes on a stick)
-- the blessing of being able to find a parking slot every time in all the seven crowded churches we visited. Daniel called it Carlo's 'agimat'.
-- the fun of coasting down a very steep driveway of a building park with Christine having her hands up in the air -- wheeeee! -- like it was a roller-coaster ride! Yeah, this was a bunch of nutty NUTS alright!

--  and there can be so much more! Even so much more!

Small stuff -- BIG JOY! Just like that tiny bird with a big chirpy voice. This perhaps is the message God wants us to learn and understand..... we are just specks in the whole universe.... small tiny minute dots .... but we are not insignificant to and in His eyes. We matter.

May the blessings, both big and small, of the Lenten season bring so much joy in your hearts and lives. God bless you all.