Acting On Expectations

We have two bird feeders that we bring in at night because although they are technically critter proof, there is nothing that can stop a raccoon that has all night to skillfully pick out the seeds one at a time.

In the morning, if I forget to put them out as soon as dawn breaks, the birds remind me. Those birds like the nuthatch, chickadee, and finches that prefer the seed feeder, sit patiently on the rod that holds the feeder waiting for me to see them.

Sometimes I look out my window and see them all lined up together like a line outside a diner. Underneath the feeder, waits the squirrels, and cardinals. Patient and persistent, they trust I will be out soon, providing for them.

Once I hang the feeder, a chickadee sings to the waiting crowd in the trees that their expected provision has appeared, and the dining begins.

The other feeder holds suet and hangs on a branch near the deck that comes out from my office. Those birds are louder. In particular the blue jays, especially when they have young to feed. They literally sit outside my office door, on the branch or the deck and yell at me.

Sometimes I try to ignore them, after all, who is in charge here anyway? Obviously not me, because I eventually get up and bring them their suet. I feel like saying "What do you think, money grows on trees," but that would be a ridiculous thing to say, not because the birds don't understand, because they do, but because for them, yes it does!

(A few pictures of blue jays waiting their turn, and deferring to the red-bellied woodpeckers)

As I retrieved for them yet one more day the thought occurred to me that perhaps they were trying to tell me something more than, "Help I need food to feed these crazy kids".

They are setting an example and asking me if I am following it. So I ask myself, "How much do I expect to receive what I need? How "demanding" am I in asking? How patient, how persistent?"

Each in their own way the raccoon, the birds who like seeds, and the birds who like suet, expect supply. They ask, seek, wait, demand, in their own way. However, all of them take action towards what they need.

They don't worry if they are offending me by squawking outside my door. After all, I am the one who promised to provide.

It seems to me that they fully embrace, as part of their DNA, the spiritual law: "Ask, and it shall be given you, seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." - Matthew 7:7 Bible

Our human personality gets in the way of fully embracing the fact that this spiritual law applies to us too and not just for other people. Perhaps if we could just find the blue jay squawk, the raccoon skills, and the patient bird qualities within ourselves it would dissolve the belief that we are less than they are, that money doesn't grow on trees, and that we have to be something other than ourselves in order to receive an abundant supply of everything we need.

As I was writing this, the squirrel we helped raise this spring (Junior) started crawling up my office door screen because I was too engrossed in what I was doing this time to hear the quiet sounds he usually makes, and too busy to see his cute face peaking over the door frame. It wasn't hard to understand that he wanted in for his daily treat of cashew nuts. He isn't shy about asking, and I always have a container by the door waiting for him.

By providing for him, even before he asks, I am acting from another spiritual law. "And it shall come to pass, that before they call I will answer." Isaiah 65: 24 Bible

As long as we marry the worldview into a belief that we are human, we abide by human concepts and laws. We perceive that there are only a few ways to receive supply, in all its forms, which of course blinds us to what has already been provided for us. Don't we know better than this?

We know the outcome if we follow this spiritual law "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto thee." - Matthew 6:33 Bible

This means that we can't say we are human while also agreeing that God - Divine Love, infinite Mind, the Principle, and essence of everything - is omnipresent. Where could the human "us" be present if God is omnipresent?

It's not that we need to acquire this knowledge, we only have to let go of the perception of human, and wake up to the Reality of infinite ever-expanding Love. It's a choice really.

Today, I am making it simple so I am choosing the qualities of blue jay married with the quickness of the hummingbird, the skill of the raccoon, the patience of the finch, the sharing of the chickadee, and the persistence of the squirrel and let them guide my actions.

What are you choosing today?

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Ok .. here he is ... Junior in for his treat ..

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