Goodness

Today my boss has granted me a boon in the form of day off in return for my month of grueling service. The best part is that it's not a vacation day or a personnel day, it's just an extra day off to rest and catch my breath. So far, it's been a great day.

I went to 6 a.m. Mass this morning so I could come home and have the whole long morning uninterrupted. On the drive home, I was looking around the fields and thinking, "Well, there's nothing really special this morning. It's just it's usual pretty self, but then, you never know when something will turn up."

When I pulled in my driveway, there were birds swooping all over the place. After I stopped the car, I looked out at the yard and noticed that all the leaves seemed to be moving. (Yes, I still have leaves in my yard. I like them.) The yards was full of birds. Most of them were sparrows and were pretty well camouflaged in the leaves. Then there was a cardinal, showing up to add some color to a pretty drab landscape--well, except for the brave little stand of daffodils that had been trying to cheer us up, but who were bowing their heads before the cold. They'll probably perk up later this afternoon. Then there were a couple more cardinals and I discerned a couple of their wives among the sparrows, and there were blue jays and a pair of robins. The little birds kept bobbing around in the leaves and the big birds kept swooping around in the trees, and the robins sat up on a branch and looked like they might be discussing where they would like to set up housekeeping.

Some of them look happier already.

I sat in the car for about 10 or 15 minutes watching them bob, and swoop, and perch, and then they slowly started migrating to the south. A few would go, and then a few more. Pretty soon all of them were gone except a woodpecker, knocking away at the top of the pecan tree, and a fat cardinal perched in the bare branches of an oak with the waxing moon sinking behind him. 

I wonder if they do this every morning. Do they all show up for an early-bird worm-catching party after we've left for work in the dark? I'll have to check tomorrow.

A few days ago, a Facebook friend, a seminary student, posted this, "Is sin the bending of goodness upon oneself? Rather than giving good to others, sin becomes making sure I get good." I know there is a context to this comment that I am ignorant of, and that probably he wasn't using the word "goodness" in the way it might sound, but it got me thinking about goodness. Because it sounds like he's implying that there is some limited amount of goodness and that if I hold on to some myself, I might be depriving someone else of his share. And, of course, that can't be right. Goodness is an attribute of God, and is, therefore, infinite. We were made for God and we yearn for Goodness, and there is plenty out there for everyone. If we have; Goodness, we can be good to others; if we don't, we'll probably just do harm.

One way I know that God wants us to have good is that He sends us these good moments. Sitting there watching the birds, I realize that the moment is a gift, and the gift is for me. No one else saw it, and no one else ever will. I could try to take pictures; I could sit here and try to describe it all day long; but I'll never be able to convey a tenth of what I experienced. I can remember other moments, for example, Tuesday night when I was driving home and four deer ran across the road in front in me--thankfully far enough in front of me--or another night when I came home late and caught a little vision in the headlights, a fat black and white cat perched in front of that same little stand of daffodils. And I saw that it was very good.

AMDG