Early Morning Birdsong

Starting a Day with Beauty

I believe that to have a good day your day must start with Beauty.  When I get up in the morning I can't say I'm feeling very happy about it, so how can I fix this?  It'll never be easy to get out of bed for me (unless I've slept in to unreasonable hours!) so what can I do to start with a brighter mood? Beauty is not always there, staring me in the face, but if I look around a bit I am bound to find something that will make me smile.

True, every day does not always start with a stunning array of colors spread across the eastern horizon.  There are those Monday mornings where the sky is completely overcast and its freezing outside the warm blankets.  Those days require a lot more work to put a smile on.  So long as I don't just mope about it, things usually turn out ok.  (Trust me!  I've tried both the moping and the smiling.)

Keep smiling on the rainy days!

That's the general rule for me.  But today I can tell you a real story where my day started with some physical Beauty.

Morning on the First Day of May

For the past week the mornings have been damp, overcast and cold, altogether very unpleasant to wake up to.  This morning I could finally see the sun!  I looked out the window as I was getting my breakfast and could see the sunlight streaming down through dew laden branches onto the forest floor.  Already, today was looking much more promising for sun!  There wasn't much time to just sit and watch the sunlight, but the image still lingered in my mind as I went about my morning chores.  There were still cows to milk and chickens to tend to.  The chickens were good company for my early morning joy.  They all seemed to like the sunshine as much as I did.

Happy chickens.  Cheery sunshine.  A good mood.  How much better could a morning be?  Well, it wasn't Christmas Morning, but that doesn't take the joy away!  There was one last little joy to be added to the morning.

As I returned to the house to get into my school day I looked out my bedroom window.  There in the still bare branches of the plum tree was perched one of the most strikingly yellow birds I have seen around these parts in a long time.  My little visitor was one of the few goldfinches I have seen.

A Goldfinch!

He sat there, singing his special song though he was probably unaware anyone was watching him.  Birdsong has been plentiful this spring, soothing any ears that it reaches.  Blackbirds have long been my favorite singers, but this goldfinch's chirping was music to me.  The best part of the song is that the birds don't care who's listening.  They sing for the sake of singing!

That's how I want to wake up every day!  Not necessarily with the perfect weather and pretty birds, but to be able to smile for the sake of smiling would be a great accomplishment!  So that's my story and the lesson I take from the birdsong!