I had gardened tonight until nearly dark.   Then I sat outside on a beach chair in our “leanto” watching the heat lightning brighten up the western sky.  I sit and sit and hear a peeping noise.  The noise comes closer and closer.  I see a bird, with a head similar to a cardinal, come into the fronds of the two palm trees which grow four feet away from me.  The bird’s color is indistinct because night is falling.

This bird continues peeping and I think it will fly away shortly.  But the peeping slows down and then stops.  I realize this bird has decided to sleep there tonight.

I am flabbergasted.  I am so close to this bird.  I am talking quietly with this bird.  This bird is so close to the house and the house lights outside have come on.  I sit and sit and say, “Thank you, thank you, thank you,” because just before the bird arrived, I had been wondering if we should cut these two palms down.  They are close to the house, maybe too close, might cause trouble in a hurricane…….yet I like the wavering shadows these palms make inside and outside the house, and the birds do enjoy the fruits that appear often.  So, here is my answer, just like that, clear as a bell…….. So these two palm trees stay, yes!

So then I say to myself, as it is getting darker and darker, “For sure this bird will get up and leave once I stand up, fold the chair seat, and walk towards the house.  But no, this bird does not move nor make another peep.  I stand by the garage wondering why this is going on.  I wonder if this birds feels safer by human habitat?  I wonder if this birds knows my voice?  I wonder does this bird know it and all nature and mankind is included in our loving kindness meditations?

May you be happy.

May you be healthy,

May you be free of fear,

I do not know, but I am feeling very blessed by this guard outside the door.