Last night, I called my son at the place where he's been paroled to stay on tether at the time set by the state to the phone he's been issued that allows only incoming calls.  Phone rang 4 times.  Picked up.  Hung up.  Since it is a strange phone system, I called again.  He picked up.  His words were slurred.  I heard women laughing in the background as he tried to tell me about his day.  I asked if he had company.  He said Yes.

I said I would let him go to visit until another time and hung up. Then, I said a prayer for him and went back to my own life.  I know his pattern.  I know that once there are gals involved with him, there will also be a return to the using.  What I don't know is how fast the drink and/or drug will bring him down.  He's been through hell many, many times.  I'm not sure what this will mean for him.  Considering the multiple times of being jailed and imprisoned and put in residential re-entry programs and even a short stint in a recovery hospital, this could be the end - maybe not.  I just don't know.

This morning, I went outside to my backyard.  I saw a rabbit munching on leaves in the yard.  I know it had to have heard the door open and my movement, but it didn't run although we were only a few feet apart.  He's been in my garden and in my backyard since he was a baby, hiding under the lavender, cone flowers, poppies, tiger lilies, baby's breath and sedum planted there.  Maybe s/he feels safer by now?  Don't know.  I just know that s/he is alone, munching on what his/her HP has provided. 

Then, I saw a tiny bird flying back and forth from foliage near a fence to the gourd birdhouse that my grandson and I created together last Fall that no bird has taken a liking to until today.  Diligently she worked, tiny as she is - back and forth with a little bit of nature in her beak - diving inside the hole we made, creating her nest.  A larger bird flew above the gourd.  The tiny one came out of the hole - saw it - and tweeted at it with such a sweet song.  The larger bird flew away.  The tiny bird went back to flying fence and foliage to clothesline and the birdhouse.  Each little piece of nature she put in the house and then stuck her little head out of the hole and tweeted the sweetest little tweet.

Her singing reminded me of a line from a poem written by Tagore although this is probably an adapted or paraphrased version of the line:

"Faith is the bird that senses the dawn and while it is still dark, sings."

For all of us worried about our spouses, our mothers, our sisters, our fathers, our children and our children's children, and ourselves - may the way HP provides for tiny creatures like rabbits and birds help us trust that HP also provides for our loved ones and for us.  Let us sense the dawn of light, joy, peace, love, patience, hope, gentleness, tenacity in our lives and sing out our faith while it is still dark.