Birds With Broken Wings

Friday 19th February 2010

In West Lexham church, Jebediah and I liberated a tiny Wren which had been trapped therein for who knows how long....

Here is the window through which it eventually flew. It was a lovely thing to do, to free a bird to fly under a vast wide Norfolk winter sky. We were reminded of Bede's quote...

It "seems to me [that such is] the present life of men on earth... as if when on a winter's night you sit feasting... and a simple sparrow should fly into the hall, and coming in at one door, instantly fly out through another. In that time in which it is indoors it is indeed not touched by the fury of the winter; but yet, this smallest space of calmness being passed almost in a flash, from winter going into winter again, it is lost to our eyes. Somewhat like this appears the life of man - but of what follows or what went before, we are utterly ignorant."

Here, the lives of two men touched that of a tiny frightened Wren. The peaceful space we walked into was, for the bird, a prison. For us though, sanctuary spaces are meaningful; not only in the context of escape from the "fury of winter", but also as a safe and venerable space to stop and think awhile about gentler skies; a time when, perhaps, a stranger might pass and help you on your way...

We must not live our lives like birds with broken wings!

Composed by Esotericus


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