Winds gusting up to 30 mph. Wow. I guess it takes a lot of might to usher in a nearly 50° temperature drop in 36 hours!
As the winds rattled the windows, I noticed how differently horses and birds deal with gale-force winds of change.
Quarter horses typically weigh between 900 and 1250 pounds. Nice wide backs. Strong shoulders. Not particularly aerodynamic rumps. Three of them spend much of their winter days plodding around Aunt Pearl’s pasture contentedly looking for some grass shoot dessert to supplement their diet of hay and feed.
American Goldfinches are little bitty birds. Most weigh less than half an ounce. The big boys weigh in at almost three quarters of an ounce. The dozens currently visiting my feeders are all various shades of yellow, ranging from dried dijon to patches of bright French’s Classic as the males begin to update their wardrobe for the spring dating season.
Today, the horses parked their substantial backsides against the wind and, with their heads close enough together to keep each other company, they awaited better weather for lunch.
The goldfinches (and chickadees and house finches and cardinals), on the other hand, continued to fly from feeder to tree to bush to feeder all morning. Their flight patterns were longer with all the zigging and zagging with the gusts, and their landings… well, let’s just say they weren’t pretty. I laughed out loud at a bird bouncing in to the feeder on one foot with wings and feathers akimbo. Once they’d managed to land, they took the swinging feeder in stride, and set about eating and chittering with their new neighbors.
Then I started thinking… what about us? How do we humans deal with the winds of change?
I’m sorry to say that too often I’m more like a horse in the pasture with my head down and my back to the wind just waiting for it to be over already.
But, I think I’d rather be more like the finches. What if, at least once in a while, I try flying into change – a little less afraid of how I am going to land and a whole lot more excited just to be able to try?
“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” Isaiah 41:10
2 Responses
Once again I can see with your words movies in my mind as to what is happening.
Haven’t decided which I’d rather be, but have given me things to contemplate.😘
Thank you, Gloria. I’ve been contemplating quite a lot lately, too, about how to be less afraid and more excited about trying new things.