Seeing God in the Ordinary

She is Difficult, and a personal challenge for me to see Christ in her. I’ve tried,  but the friction is always there, my feelings blinding me.

I sat at the kitchen table with a cup of tea, thinking about our latest encounter.  It didn’t go well. I had tried to be nice, but she didn’t respond in kind. I was trying to be patient. But it wasn’t easy.

A ferocious squawking and loud bird screams from the front yard broke my thoughts. Pairs of Blue Jays and Mockingbirds had nests on opposite sides of the yard: the Blue Jays in the Crabapple Tree, the Mockingbirds in the Cherry Tree. The babies in both nests had hatched, and the parents swooped at the other pair, marking territories in-between feeding the newborns. Their battles were usually loud.

The noise I was now hearing was louder and more frenzied than usual. I went to the front window to see what all the commotion was about.

The neighbor’s cat had foolishly walked into my yard, getting between the two trees with the babies in the nests. In perfect synchronization, like miniature feathered Blue Angels, the four parents were swooping down on the cowering cat’s head from opposite corners, one right after the other, emitted loud screams. Blue Jays and Mockingbirds shared each others’ territory for the attack.

Finally the cat got up enough nerve to make a run for it back to his house, diving for cover in the thick bushes by the garage.

The pairs of birds which had worked together to protect their babies returned to chasing each other.

I reflected on what I had just seen, with a renewed hope that there will be a time when Difficult and I will be able to get beyond our strained relationship, and I’ll be able to see Christ in her.

© Diane L. Neuls DeBlasio 2011