It's Complicated

A couple of days ago....Paul and I had a very special guest during happy hour...a Baltimore Oriole.

I am pretty certain I saw one just briefly last summer....but it's safe to say I've never really had a close up encounter with one...until now.

The intensity of the orange and the beautiful markings on the wings and tail were a sight to behold!  We couldn't stop looking.

He started off at the hummingbird feeder....then hung out on a tree branch for quite a while. We were surprised that he was giving us so much air time...it's like he knew he was in a place where he would be appreciated and admired.

 

Then he awkwardly flew to the ground and tucked himself into the shrubs along the side of the condo.  

At this point I was pretty sure he was injured.  I took a few photographs....almost feeling guilty taking advantage of the fact that he couldn't just fly away. What had been such a celebratory event...had all of a sudden become very sad....and complicated.

I put out a bowl of sugar water and tossed a piece of an orange his way...and finally left him alone.  He was gone the next morning so I can only hope that he was finally able to take flight.  But I also know the circle of life is complicated....and that another outcome was possible. But I am grateful for his beauty and still have hope for his future. 

Mothering is complicated too.....and I know just 

the right guy who spoke about that so beautifully.

Paul has a part time gig preaching for a small church in Scarborough while they look for a settled part time minister.  Preaching is one of the parts of of his job he loved the most....so he's enjoying it...and often times he knows just what to say.

This is what he shared with the congregation before their time of prayer:

Thoughts on Mother’s Day 2023

Blue Point Congregational Church

Rev. Dr. Paul Shupe

 

A few words about Mother’s Day as we enter into our time of prayer.  It is easiest always in the church on this day simply to adopt the advice that Thumper’s mother gave to him in the movie Bambi, “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nuthin’.”  And so, we rightly note that everyone has a mother, adopt Thumper’s mother’s advice, and praise mothers and mothering and motherhood to the skies.

            But we all know, even if we’re reluctant to say so on a day like today, that all mothers are not created equal, and motherhood is difficult from the moment of birth to the end of life, and that along with days of great and lasting joy come days of challenge and confusion and uncertainty.  Then too, if we’re being fully honest, we must remember and share the sense of loss and exclusion felt by women who wanted to become mothers, but whose biology or sexual orientation or circumstance made that impossible for them . 

            It’s all very complex, this mothering thing, and so to set aside a single day to deal with all of it, well, it’s complicated.  And so today we’re going to pause for a period of silent prayer that is longer than usual.  I hope that you’ll use these precious moments of silence to ponder motherhood in its full dimensions, the joy and the pain, the hope and the fear, the plenty for many and the want for some.  Ponder the mother you had, or may have wished that you had.  Remember with gratitude all the love that you have received, and think once more about the lessons that she taught, or failed to teach.  Let us on this Mother’s Day not settle merely for greeting card schmaltz and Thumper’s mother’s enforced silence.  Let us on this day honor our mothers by seeing them fully, offering love and forgiveness and gratitude and hope, and by resolving to be the best versions of ourselves that our mothers could have dreamed of.