Creation Time & the Birds Around Us

Liza Adamczewski or the accidental ecologist

@lizaadamczewski

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Let’s revel in this Autumn/Fall that’s just arrived in a cascade of rose hips & berries, because the long winter will be nipping at its heels before you can say Jack Frost. So for now it’s time to prepare the larder for those long dark days.

“But ask the animals, and they will teach you,
    the birds of the air, and they will tell you;
8 ask the plants of the earth, and they will teach you,
    and the fish of the sea will declare to you.
9 Who among all these does not know
    that the hand of the Lord has done this?
10 In his hand is the life of every living thing
    and the breath of every human being.

               Job 12: 7-10 NRSVue

 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink,or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by worrying can add a single hour to your span of life?

                Matthew 6:25-27 NRSVue

Not long ago I shared my discovery of the exquisite bird icons created by Liza Adamczewski, the self-described Accidental Ecologist. While some have decried them as a sacrilege (give me a break) they are beautiful reminders that the anonymous writer of Job and Jesus had it right about honouring the wisdom of birds.

Reader Judy commented that these images might be incorporated in congregational worship and reflection during Creation Time, the liturgical season of the Christian year between September 1 and October 4 (Feast of St. Francis.) While I'm no longer in this leadership role in a community of faith it is a great idea. 

Our Northern Hemisphere Creation Time occurs as birds are beginning their peregrinations southward, a word from the same root for pilgrimage. I notice that ospreys, usually early leavers, have departed from their nests and some of the hummingbirds at our feeders may be on their way south. These migratory journeys are a wonder of Creation, if we are willing to pay attention.

A couple of days ago I was attending to a hanging basket immediately beside one of our feeders when a hummer buzzed up for a drink, maybe a foot away. Then it looked at me and flew under the brim of my straw hat and to my sunglasses, perhaps seeing it's reflection -- they are feisty critters. It was a startling and amazing moment, lasting only seconds, and it made my day.

Little wonder that the Holy Spirit has wings in the gospels. What can the birds teach us, if we are humble enough to listen? 

Here is the link to my earlier Accidental Ecologist blog entry

https://lionlamb-bowmanville.blogspot.com/2025/08/the-accidental-ecologist-blessed.html

Liza Adamczewski or the accidental ecologist

@lizaadamczewski

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It’s the time of year to sort our nests out for the winter. Making sure that there are lots of candles, piles of logs & books for the long dark nights ahead. Here’s a Bumbarrel with a beak full of lichen doing the same thing. Home comforts help to see us through the long nights