Hummingbird

Hummingbirds don't rest much but when they do it is high in a tree nestled on a branch usually overlooking food.  Their wings flutter faster than we as humans can blink.  Their hum is distinctive and full of character.    They rarely travel in groups.  They are the original solo traveler searching for beauty and provision.

I was once likened to a hummingbird and the nickname stuck.  In many ways I am just like those colorful, bright, exuberant birds; I rest little, I seek beauty in life and I buzz quickly through life hoping to leave beauty along the way.  I found myself recently taking refuge, as a hummingbird would, in the branches of an apple tree overlooking an orchard with what truly is my favorite food and I realized my hummingbird nature.  I was perfectly content picking apple after apple by myself as my boys, apparently seized with boredom, went off to play football.

The smell of the trees enchanted me as I continued reaching ever higher for those perfect small heirloom apples.  I reflected on the ancestors who had planted these trees ensuring their survival in a harsh landscape of desert.  I buzzed about the orchard finding only the best apples.  Tree to tree I went examining then picking the choicest fruits.  I wished I was a hummingbird because all the choicest apples were high and out of reach.  Climbing didn't always work and pulling down branches required a second set of hands to pick while I pulled and as I already mentioned the boys were not into it that day in spite of our past experiences when they loved it.  I buzzed alone.

The place where I differ from hummingbirds is that I am naturally a social person.  I love to spend time with friends.  Hummingbirds are solo creatures.  They do not like the company of others.  I have not imagined my life lived alone during the entire six years I have been single.  I always refer back to the fact that God made us for relationship. Unlike the hummingbird, we need other people.

Hummingbirds focus on meeting their needs.  They memorize things such as where food is located along their migration route and when it is at its best.  They memorize their feeding stations.  Memory serves humans as well and I have memorized my feeding stations.  I fill up on Sundays with songs that I play over in my head during the week. I instinctively memorize feelings and impressions from the places I have been which in turn feeds my desire for adventure.  I memorize the hiking trails we trek and the patterns of months.  My inner hummingbird memorizes what feeds it best.

As a hummingbird I buzz through my life.  Research might list me as ADHD for my constant buzzing or depressed and filling an emptiness through constant movement.  But that would not be accurate.  I am simply living life not letting it live me.   And I am influencing the other two hummingbirds in my life to live it to its fullest as well.

These boys make my buzzing look like a turtle race.  The only time they are slow is in the mornings getting up.  They take after me in that.  After our slow wake up Max's first question is , "What are we going to do today?"  He rarely wants an answer that involves resting.  The quicker the pace the better.  Nikolai and I's favorite activity is hiking which is a given on the weekends.  We buzz together up and down those trails and up and down the trails of life.  We are one another's branches for rest and we are blessed for it.