Joy

My husband and I live one row of houses away from the "Little Spokane River Nature Preserve" … from every window of our home we look out upon hills covered with forest. I love the 70 foot pines surrounding our house, the hiking trail being a block from our front door and the wildlife that comes and goes on an ongoing basis.

At the beginning of this summer, I decided that I would begin to feed the birds to see what I could attract. My immediate favorites were the tiny American Goldfinches with their bright yellow bodies, and their black wings, tails and skull caps. I was filled with joy by their bright happy color, constant chatter and the swooping funny way that they fly, but their visits were only occasional and they never stayed long at the feeders. Then one day I noticed at the feed store a bag of bird food called "Finch Lovers Blend". It is a premium mix of sunflower chips, thistle and Niger seeds and the label claimed that finches and other small colorful birds love this mixture. I decided that if I wanted to attract more of the joyful little birds then I needed to provide what they loved - so I purchased a bag. The new food first filled the feeders about 3 weeks ago and today my yard is filled with yellow birds. Now there are usually 5 to 7 Goldfinches (or Pine Siskins) on the hanging feeder and there can be as many as twelve more on the covered feeder, a few feet away. The trees close to the feeders are also filled with birds and the air seems to be alive with them.

Life is much like my bird feeders. Consciously or unconsciously, we decide what we want to attract – joy and abundance, or scarcity and pain. With our decision, we put out the energy that will attract those things into our lives. If we fill our internal space with fear, anger and negativity, we will attract more circumstances that will make us angry, fearful and unhappy. But, if we first set our intentions to live a life of alignment with our heartsongs, and then fill our "feeders" with thoughts of acceptance, openness to Spirit and a happy expectancy - we will attract all the good things that God so badly wants to give us.

What is in your feeders today?