Today is the first day of Birdtober. It's an event for visual artists, but I've been using the prompts to write daily poems in October for five years now. (All are certified 100% AI-free!) Above you can see 2026's list. And the first bird, the Lilac-breasted Roller, is one I've seen here in Uganda.
Rolling, stalking,
Snake devouring,
Colors flowering,
Fearlessly protect their babies
All while dressed as lovely ladies
Brown savannas, purple flashes
When lilac-breasted roller passes
©Ruth Bowen Hersey
This month's SJT host, Patricia, shared some words by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin with us. Here's a part of the quote:
"Above all, trust in the slow work of God.
...it is the law of all progress
that it is made by passing through some stages of instability --
and that it may take a very long time.
And so I think it is with you;
your ideas mature gradually -- let them grow,
let them shape themselves, without undue haste.
Don't try to force them on,
as though you could be today what time
(that is to say, grace and circumstances acting on your own good will)
will make of you tomorrow."
She asked us where we are trusting -- or struggling to trust -- the slow work of God. I think it's a difficult question to answer, because sometimes we can only see how the work happened as we look back over years. But when I do that, I see many instances where I spent hours of painful worrying over something that has now gone away completely. I wish I had been able to rest and trust that God was at work, but more often I simply fretted. So I assume there are things in my life now that I am wasting my mental energies over, even if I'm not aware of what they are.
When we work with people (I'm a teacher, working with seventh to eleventh graders this year), we know that very few things happen instantly. If it seems that a change or a realization is instant, chances are there were many steps that went before, even if we don't know what they were. People are not machines, and their development is organic rather than mechanical. As Rob Bell puts it, "Seeds, not switches." We have to trust that the seeds we're planting will bear fruit, even though we probably won't be there to see it.
2 comments:
Ruth, for the past few days, I could not reach your comment section. Let's hope that this time I will be successful. I am in awe of the lilac-breasted roller's color, chirps while staring, and especially dressed as lovely ladies. As far as the Spiritual Journey, I found a line that made me pause, "I wish I had been able to rest and trust that God was at work, but more often I simply fretted". You are not the only person that frets without thinking of ways to trust that God is with us. Another pause, "We have to trust that the seeds we're planting will bear fruit". Yes we need to do this on a regular basis.
The Llilac crested Roller is indeed a lovely lady. Her (his) colors are stunning! Thanks for including the video. I like your phrase about fretting. I turned it into a mantra:
Fret not
rest and trust
God is at work.
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