Hummingbirds, 'precious morsels' and God
This is a story of connection — with God, with nature, with myself. It began through a people connection. It is a story that seems to keep telling itself.
Seventeen years ago when I was caring for my centenarian aunt who lived in Pasadena, Calif. I handed her a morning cup of coffee. She looked up at me from her spot on the sofa — we were in my cousin's little cabin up a canyon in Chatsworth — and said, “You are a precious morsel in the Lord's hands.”
No one had ever spoken that to me; I hadn't even heard the phrase before. Soon after I went outside to my chair on the rocks overlooking the valley. The sun was rising above the mountains. Suddenly a hummingbird shot up from below and hovered in front of me, backed by the sun so that it seemed to be in its exact center.
From that moment I associated hummingbirds with “precious morsel.” They became a reminder to me that I am small but not insignificant, and I have purpose in the hands of a great God.
Three years later I was in Priest River doing a walk through of a place Terry and I might live — when he retired and we followed our plan to return to our roots. It would not be our own property but we would have our own space in the home of a couple who were friends with my mom.
We couldn't come right away — and they kept this unique place I call the “little castle” rented, so there was a possibility it would not be available. Looking out the window — again over a valley — I saw a tiny hummingbird resting on the branch of a nearby tree. I knew then that we would live there when the time was right. And that's just what happened in another five years.
That move was nearly a decade ago. This past week Terry and I were into the last days of our Priest Lake camping. We have an adopted Eskimo grand who was 20 on July twentieth — her golden birthday — and wanted her party at the lake with us. It was going to be a huge day — a dozen family and friends to feed — three tents set up in the site along with our travel trailer.
That morning I went to the beach in the early quiet and sat in my chair watching the sun rise, creating sparkle on the calm water. I wanted the day to be wonderful. I wanted to have enough energy for all the people and activity. From the corner of my eye I caught a movement in the shallows along the shore.
It turned out not to be in the water, but above the water. A hummingbird had flown from the shade trees and was hovering just feet away over the lake. It dipped its beak two or three times and drank. Never in my life have I seen a hummingbird drink from a lake.
It was a profound and holy moment. I saw myself again as that “precious morsel” and God as provider of vast and sustaining resource for all I need. That little hummer and the endless water. It is a picture — a truth — I intend to hold very close.