100th Post... of Wing-Wind and Raspberries

So, it's berry-picking season, and, of course, I've been doing my share of picking. This morning was one of those times...

Raspberries this morning. I have been alternating between blueberries and raspberries, and because of the possibility of rain, I was helping someone I know out with getting the raspberries indoors so they wouldn't be ruined.

Representational. From weheartit.com

Now, other kinds of berries have been pretty easy to come by, but it is mostly these two types I have been picking this year, since I know someone who has quite a bit of them. And this morning, as I was picking, the briars plucking at my hair and clothes, I had a somewhat unexpected visitor.

Have you ever had a bird fly so close to you in it's wing-wind gusted right past you... so close you could feel the back-breeze and even, yes, some of the feathers as the bird soared past on the way elsewhere?

Well, this morning, that was part of my experience. And it got me thinking about the interactions between people and nature, and between varying people in life.

I'm pretty used to bees, ladybugs, dragonflies,butterflies, and even a variety of spiders and other creepy-crawly critters as I go berry picking. And I'm even used to birds flitting about. What I'm NOT used to is just how close this bird got, and how unafraid it was.

Squirrels, even chickens, I'm used to having get that close. But I think this may have been a finch. She jetted past so quickly, it was hard to tell for sure.

In the book of Genesis, we were called to cultivate, subdue, and take care of the earth and the animals therein. And that is one of the first things that came to mind once I figured out for sure hat had occurred - three times, this bird whizzed past, closer each time. It was pretty cool!

So, as I picked my raspberries and pondered the wind-wing of a tiny, beautiful bird too fast for me to really see, I began to wonder about other things.

What does being a cultivator and subduer of the earth look like, today?

For one, I believe that means we are to take care of the resources around us. We are to help guide others, but also nature. If we don't take care of it... if we don't take care of others... who will?

And in some ways that is what Journey to a Thousand Voices is for. If I am photographing the world around me, while taking time to listen to the stories of others, in some ways, I am cherishing the resources. I am cultivating relationships which can therein cultivate learning and growth within you, my readers. I am sharing the beauty of the world, which helps me, and therein also my readers... my blog followers... to better appreciate the blessings we have been gifted with that so many of us sometimes take for granted.

So, I will continue to ponder the wing-wing moment of earlier today and what I can learn from it. I will continue to ponder how the world around me... the people around me... all affect one another. We all affect each other, for good or evil. We affect the earth and environment similarly. It is all CHOICE.