<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Well it seemed to take forever this year, Spring that is. But now, all of a sudden the hedge rows and verges, the trees and bushes have simply burst into abundance. With this has come the dawn chorus. I know I shouldn\u2019t grumble about the early morning song of the birds but sometimes I\u2019m with dear Adge Cutler and want to scream aloud \u2018blackbird I\u2019ll \u2018av he\u2019!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I am writing this in May, a month in which we hold National Dawn Chorus day;\u00a0honestly! Each year on this day we are encouraged to get up at 4.30am and listen to the birds waking up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At whatever time it comes dawn is in fact a mysterious time of the day. It always comes with a sense that something is beginning, something is new. I used to love the early hours when I did a paper round as well as the free breakfast I got when selling papers at the local Sgts Mess in my home village of Bordon, Hants.\u00a0\u00a0 Birdsong has fascinated me ever since I learnt to fly a glider in an open cockpit. Up at 2000ft you could not see any birds (to be truthful I was trying to look where I was going in\u00a0relation to the ground) but you could hear their individual calls in a way that you can\u2019t from the back garden when there is a general dawn chorus chit chat in the air.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And isn\u2019t life like this so often, full of chit chat to the point of distraction. I mean, all we want is to know clearly what to do and where we are going in life, but the \u2018chorus\u2019 makes it complex. I read in the bible that Jesus found he needed to get away from the chorus and the chit chat and would \u2018withdraw\u2019 to a place nearby, often at dawn, to pray \u2013 to seek to hear the single voice of the Father for guidance and support in the day ahead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When people came to him and asked him to teach them prayer his way he gave them two bits of advice. First, he said to use the words of what we call the Lord\u2019s Prayer. Second,\u00a0 he said when you pray get away from the hubbub, from the chorus of confusion in the world about you, find a quiet place and time and pray. For it is in the quiet place and time that we are able to hear best, whether this is an empty church or open field, whether it is in the stillness of the dawn or middle of the afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
May you be able to find stillness and peace in life and a place where the \u2018chorus\u2019 is blotted out and the voice of \u2018Our Father\u2019 might come to you in love and wisdom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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