A Happy New Year

I had a wonderful day this first day of the year 2013.  My husband and I love to "bird." That means we like going out on some days to see what birds we can find.  Being a member of our local Ornithological Society means we can participate in the national "bird count" days.  Our group is assigned a segment on the map that is within a circle to limit the results to same or similar areas from year to year.  The results of doing the counts on or near the same day, gives a big picture of what birds tend to be in the area this time of year, if their numbers are increasing or decreasing, and a clue how the weather might affect our ability to see these birds. We get  a sense of their migration patterns, their habitat and how changing it changes the migration patterns and other things.  Sometimes we actually end up with more questions than answers, but we enjoy the comradery developed over the years of being a team member.
Life lately has made it difficult for all the ususal members of our team to come together at one time every time. Today 4 of us joined forces to face a soaker of a rainy day, and started the day with few expectations because of the rain.  We began our day a little later than ususal, around 6:00am, and were worn completely out by early afternoon. With 9 hours of nonstop birding behind us we had a right to be exhausted, but it is showing that we are all getting older. 12 or 13 hours used to be nothing to us, if we could just find one more bird species. With age realism has set in, and we have a knowlege of our area its habitat where to look for certain species that we didn't have in years gone by.  We found 64 Species of birds today in spite of the rain. That is acutallly a very good number for as hard as it rained, because birds often take cover and hunker down in these circumstances. But today they were very active and came whether we were just pishing or running the owl tape. Curious birds respond to the alarm calls of other birds (pishing) or to the call of an owl much like birds attacking a thieving crow or blue jays fussing at a hawk in a tree.  If they think an owl is near, they will show up in droves to torment it out of their territory, or will at least alarm the remainder of the bird world.
So time and again at each location we called off the species we were seeing through our binoculars, and gather to record how many we collectively saw.  As a team we have learned to face different directions sometimes, and to diversify where each of us is looking.  However, if someone is seeing a new species for the day, they will call it out carefully, to give others an opportunity to see it.  Today was one of those good days. We functioned well, and put trust in one another, as a good team should.
I never tire of seeing the many birds there are to see. Being in the natural world blesses me.  The people we are with are Godly people, and we all have a sense of God's presense as we do our part to take care of the natural world He created for us to live in. It is one of the best ways I know to start a new year.  I was blessed to be with friends, to know I am part of team, to have a purpose for the day, to be healthy enough to withstand the arduousness of it, and to be like minded with a group of individuals who care about something.
The one other thing that makes this special to me, is that this is me being the person God made me. I am in my comfort zone you might say. Since childhood I have loved flowers and birds and wild things. When I am there among them, my sense of God is powerful. My confidence that He has always been in control is renewed. My amazement of his grandness is expanded.  I find I fall in Love with God all over again.
I sincerely hope someone else had a day as great as that on this first day of the year. May there be blessings beyond your understanding in store for everyone this year.  I pray that a revival, a renewal, a return to strength for the weary, will begin in the hearts of every one on earth who knows and loves God, in the name of Jesus AMEN.