This afternoon I was raking leaves. It was cold. The sky was an impenetrable grey and looked like nothing could ever break it. The trees were mostly bare, brown, and leafless, though some still held onto their burst of fall color. As I raked, the noise of the leaf blower filled my ears, but I still was able to hear one lonely bird sing. It seemed like a burst of spring right into the cold grayness of the day. I looked up, trying to find out where the song was coming from. I first looked to one tree, then to another, and yet another. After looking at the trees, I took off my hood in order to hear the song more clearly. I finally found it. I looked up at another tree that was in the front yard. Though I could not see the bird, I could hear it.
After hearing this bird sing his song, it came to my mind how the Christians today are like that bird. We are alone in what it seems an unbreakable gloom. Like that bird, alone, if we must, we have to keep the song of Joy, Life, Love, Mercy, Peace, Truth, Gentleness, Faithfulness, Goodness, Righteousness, and Kindness of Jesus Christ alive. A burst of hope and joy came into me and made me smile.
After a while more of raking, I looked up to see that one bird fly across the sky. (I was assuming it was the same bird that I heard singing) The bird was alone against the grey sky, but it was free and flew despite the grayness. Then a little while after, I looked over to the front yard from in between the houses and saw the blue sky peeping through the clouds. This reminded me of The Reverend Mother’s line in the “Sound of Music:” “If God closes a door, somewhere he will open a window.” This opening of blue sky was the sign of the sun still above the clouds. The sun will never be covered forever. Like in the “Lord of the Rings,” when the darkness of Mordor covers Middle Earth, in some places, it was not to last. The sun came through at the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, and the wind from the south blew the clouds away.
During this time of struggle in our world of death, lies, deceit, cruelty, and sadness, we must remember that JESUS IS LORD; he is more powerful than all our fears, and he is ALWAYS THERE. We must keep the song that JESUS IS LORD alive in our hearts.
After finishing raking the leaves, I walked up to the front of the house and saw the sun break through the clouds.