The Secret of Caring

THE SECRET OF CARING

The other evening, I held out my hand tentatively and a Robin flew down and perched itself confidently on my fingers; it was not in any hurry and contentedly ate some nuts from my outstretched hand, before happily flying off again at its leisure.

Just last night a collared dove suddenly landed at my feet, asking to be fed. It wasn’t bothered at all by me, busying around, with my seed trays and pots.

How does a wild bird ever learn to trust a human, I wonder?

Here, in our tiny existence, we are immersed in and have very much become a part of nature.

We love the plants, the birds, the creatures, who are the only companions we see, from year to year. There is no such thing as just sitting, somewhat detached outside, as if in just another room; the garden is alive and constantly interacting with us. 

Full of song, it is a delight.

We have learned how, in a garden everything is in motion, living, growing, chirping, buzzing, asking you for nuts, for a bit of scone, telling you it needs watering or needs the careful pruning away of a diseased leaf or moving to a better place to grow best, maybe one more shady.

It’s not just in the garden. Right now, wherever you are, everything around you is in motion, flowing, growing, changing, being born, dying. And so are you, with your cells in this continuous process of renewal.

There is a great sense, especially when you spend time in the seasons, of the power and energy that moves the stars, the trees, the plants, the cells of your body. 

Ultimately an awareness comes, of the interdependence of all things, illustrated so beautifully by the birds that come to rely upon you and that you come to count upon as friends, accepted into their circle of being. 

You come to sense something of the great wisdom that so harmoniously knows how to create a vast infant universe as well as enabling the tiny seedling to sprout; that knows how to orchestrate the dawn chorus, the crashing of the waves over pebbles and a late night blues riff, to set you free.

What you find most, when you flow with the garden, with creation, with each other, is the to and fro of love.

How else can I explain the miracle of a wild bird eating, without fear, out of my hand?

After all these many years in the garden, I have learned a great deal about the giving and receiving of love, in all its wisdom and sacred power, how it is joy complete and the ultimate fulfilment. That, I have discovered, is the secret behind caring ....for all things.