I Have Faith

And so does the Hummingbird

It felt far too early to put out the feeder. The April days were so chilly, even cold, and I couldn’t picture the tiny fliers without super warm weather. And still I prepped the feeders - just one at a time this year. I made my 4 parts water to 1 part table sugar mixture and put out just 1 1/2 to 2 cups at a time. I can be a lazy thing and this year I’m swapping out two feeders so there’s always a fresh one out and a clean one ready to go out. I had faith that if I fed them they would come.

Yesterday morning and again several times today I’ve been delighted to see Hummers at the feeder on the deck. I have a monocular now, and it’s so great to be able to have both eyes open to catch the big picture and see their arrival, and then close one eye and have the super close up view. invisibly fast beat of wings, the iridescent shimmer of the tiny feathers.

Photo: Carole Silvoy, video still from 2022

These little birds always come around. After their long trek they find the feeder I always have out for them. Is that faith on their part? Unlikely. But it feels good that they can count on me. All I have to do is mix up the sugar water, clean the feeders and enjoy their visits.

I’ve heard it said that faith is hope in things unseen. There are many things I have faith in that I have no proof will happen. I have faith that my parents’ love story wasn’t over when Daddy died in 2010. I believe they will be reconnected as a life force, energy, angels, whatever. I’ll never have proof of this but I have hope and faith, and in her sweetest moments Mother does too. She always has.

What are things hoped for yet unseen in your life? What does the energy of that hope, that faith in those things mean for you/. How does it translate into action and into the person you choose to be day by day? Let’s talk.