Feathers

Feathers are a Native American symbol of the Great Spirit and the sun.  There's some kind of magic in a feather, that instrument of delicate strength that allows a bird to travel the sky while I remain bound to the Earth watching in awe.  My arms and legs are strong and brave, but they do not lift me from the Earth to soar in the face of the sun.   

Yesterday I found a bird in my bungalow.  The poor thing must have been accidentally shut in there when the cats were put up for the night.  Here I was dressed for court, letting out Cats Boomer and Randy, when I found this rather large bird who had bled out on the tiles.  He was still soft, and as I lifted him with the empty cat bowls, his head rolled over gently.  I was overtaken by the sadness of what the bird endured overnight as the cats ganged up on him and brought him down.  I'm sure he went higher and higher in an effort to avoid them, and I'll bet they were expert trapeze artists swinging off whatever they could to reach the terror stricken creature.  Alas, there was nothing I could do now to help him, and Boomer and Randy bounded out of the bungalow like children being let out to play.  Little monsters. 

If that bird could have freed himself from the barrier of the roof, he could have flown off into the silvery moon filled air, perched in the limbs of the magnolia and laughed at his tormenters.  But his feathers could not accomplish that for him. 

I can identify with that bird.  People get caught in bungalows, too, with accusers psychologically clawing at them to bring them down.  It has happened since the beginning of time, and it will continue to happen until the end of time.  Usually we do become soft dead things by morning, our heads rolling over gently in defeat.  But that isn't required because humans have an advantage in psychological battle that is better than feathers.  To keep from being a soft dead thing when morning comes a soul has to break out of the barriers of fear and disbelief that keep it in prison.  And that can be done through right thinking with the heart.  Only from the safe limbs of the magnolia tree can the soul choose to laugh or love again. 

As a man thinketh in his heart, so he is.  ~ Proverbs 23:7  

...behold, the kingdom of God is within you.  ~ Jesus (Luke 17:21)

"Learn to think with your heart, and feel with your head."  ~ Native American saying