Villagersonline : blogs : rodhugen : talking to a dove
villagersonline
A Community Tunneling Protocol
The Village meets at 5pm Sundays
1926 N. Cloverland Ave. map

Links
(edit) The Village Cancer Relief Fund;


From: rodhugen
Date: Fri Jul 16 11:09:44 EDT 2010 Subject: talking to a dove

Responses
Laelia: LOVE this! (7/17/10)
Responses (sorted by date)
Laelia: LOVE this! (7/17/10)
We have some mourning doves that have taken up residence in the back yard. They are pretty good neighbors and most days you hardly notice them. I was sitting in the hot tub this morning and decided to say hello to the one who was sitting on the wall nearby. He seems to be a bit quiet, but did acknowledge my presence with a couple of eye blinks. I asked him what he had planned for the day and he just stared at me, which felt a bit awkward. I have a breakfast meeting and then I am off to the Village to make a video with Eric and then this afternoon I need to work on my sermon for Sunday morning. I'm preaching on making it your ambition to lead a quiet life in the church in Scottsdale and will need to go down Saturday afternoon since it makes me nervous to leave early Sunday morning in case I should have car trouble. Beside, Mom has some business matters that need attending to and I hope to have dinner with my son. Lots of things going on in my life. Lots of stuff to do.

I told the dove my plans. He bobbed his head, but it was in that way that folks bob their heads when they aren't really agreeing with you, but just want you to feel affirmed. I asked him again what he had going on and he cocked his head toward me and started to coo some 50's love song to himself. One of those Tony Bennett songs with Count Basie, I think. Anyway, he was grooving away on some obscure tune and seemed quite in the moment. I told him he had a nice, soothing voice and wondered aloud what would be happening after he hopped down off the wall. He just kept cooing the song.

The sprinklers came on and the grass and the flowers got their early morning drink. When the sprinklers stopped and the yard was all dewy and damp, the dove jumped down and started wandering around poking his beak into the grass here and there. He seemed to have forgotten that I was around and seemed oblivious to the stresses of the day. Kathy came outside and told me she was having difficulties with the car, so I went out front and got the car running and she left for work. I climbed back in the tub and the dove looked at me with those big sad eyes of his and I figured he was just commiserating which is nice. A second later I realized that he has no problems with transportation. How cool would it be if I could just fly off to Phoenix tomorrow instead of making that two hour drive in traffic. The bird lacks ambition. What could I accomplish if anytime I needed to go somewhere, I just flapped my arms. He seems to be awfully content bumming around the backyard. If I knew him better and could get him to talk, I'd ask about that.

My cats, Blaise and Soren, were sitting by the sliding door licking their chops and making that clicking noise they make when something invades their backyard. They are quite possessive of the backyard, even though they are indoor cats and are never allowed outside. I laughed at them as they give the hairy eyeball to the dove. They are clearly not happy with his presence and are probably a little irritated that I'm trying to engage him. I feel a bit of a mean streak and remind the dove that I could let my cats outside. "What would you do then?" I asked. As if to answer he jumped up on a grapefruit tree branch. Still feeling snarky, I reminded him that cats can climb trees, too, and so he hopped further out on the branch until it dipped under his weight. He is a bit of a smart alec, I think.

I asked him once more what he had to do today and once again he cocked his head and started warbling one of those throaty jazz tunes from the old days. It is kind of rude to not answer a question, I think. I had no more time for hanging out in the hot tub. My day calls. My duties call. I've got things to do, places to go, people to see. Must be nice to spend the day singing love songs, preening your feathers, and goofing off, but I've got to work on that 'make it your ambition to lead a quiet life' sermon. I need a good opening illustration in order to grab the people's attention and make a couple of solid points. These sermons don't just write themselves. You have to work hard at them. People expect you to be witty and wise and theologically sound and get it all done in 25 minutes. Yeah, it is definitely time to get to work.

Rod

Edit this blog
Write a response Email the author



From: Laelia
Date: Sat Jul 17 02:42:24 EDT 2010 Subject: LOVE this!

Super, super, story! I was so engrossed and I love how you talk to the birds! (Glad to know I am not the only one, heehee) Reminded me of St. Francis! He was known for preaching to the birds in the trees as he walked along. Besides the fact that I LOVE moourning doves and the story was thought provoking, I loved it because it reminded me of a great quote. I was in Trader JOes one day and saw it on a notecard in line at the checkout. At the time I was wrestling with God about what I should do in my life, what the point of doing music was, whether I should pursue it seriously or not and then I looked down at the cards and saw this Chinese proverb:

"A bird does not sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song."

And your story and this quote reminded me again to not worry and demand to have an answer all the time, but just to live out of my song (life of praise) to the Lord. :)

Edit this response
Write a response


Write a blog
Latest Updates

blogs (upload)
eric: Parenting thoughts (8/11/14)
sunnygirl7d: Reuben fishing blog (1 resp) (8/8/14)
samantha: My new blog (8/11/14)
eric: New Website (8/7/14)
dbonilla: Annie Moses Band (3/14/14)
Suki: Ash Wednesday (3/5/14)
andrea: Good news update! (1 resp) (2/3/14)
Carena: More moving help (2/1/14)
Carena: A Friend in Need (3 resp) (1/25/14)
em: Tell me how I can pray (1/24/14)
andrea: Need for Volunteers-Foster Car... (1/19/14)
andrea: suffering (1/7/14)
rodhugen: Two quotes (2 resp) (1/3/14)
cwill: Please pray (2 resp) (1/26/24)
Carena: Polaroid Camera (12/23/13)

pictures (upload)
Suki: Vespers Dec 2012 (1/26/24)
eric: Ordination (3/16/14)
Suki: Soup Supper 2012 (3/17/14)
eric: Belonging 2012 (1/7/14)
eric: sabbath (3/16/14)

bios (upload)
Mike_Wise (1/16/13)
james (11/14/12)
clrclady (1/28/12)
SPark (11/27/11)
benjipark (12/2/10)

music (upload)
Frosted Flakes :
Everywhere j2014 (1/16/14)
Frosted Flakes :
New Found Hope J2014 (1/16/14)
Frosted Fla es :
Trinity Jan2014 (1/16/14)
Skeptic Chickens :
No Condemnation (7/29/13)
Karen and Friends :
Breastplate May 5 (5/10/13)

sermons (upload)
Eric,Ron Layman: The Disciplines RL (3/6/14)
Eric: Habakkuk Part One (1/16/14)
Eric: Noah's Ark (9/27/13)
Eric: The Fall (9/13/13)
Rod: Creation (9/13/13)

Villagersonline.com 2010
Contact Us
(edit) Site Meter
Free Search Engine Submission
Free Search Engine Submission

"Best Viewed at 1024x768 under the light of the full moon in July while Mercury is in Leo
and six pigmy marmosets do the lambada behind you singing Kumbaya" -- User Friendly