"Ask the animals, and they will teach you, Or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you.” Job 12:7
Whoever coined the term 'bird-brained,' really does not know much about birds. This wordsmith should have been here on this cold Sunday afternoon to observe a Canadian mother goose and her chicks on our green roof. There is absolutely nothing 'bird-brained' about this amazing protective mama. Not only is she not lacking in neither seriousness nor maturity, attributes according to the Webster Dictionary which define being 'bird-brained,' she has things to teach us humans.
Now, l could be tempted to boast that this mama bird with her black head and neck and white patch on her face is unique, because she is Canadian. However, then I might be dubbed ‘bird-brained.’ Silly me, for nature writer David Quammen in his essay “The Miracle of the Geese” claims that geese are images of humanity’s own highest self. This is true not only of Canadian geese but of mama birds of every ilk, for they are some of the most amazing creatures with whom we share our Creator's beautiful world. They embody liberty, grace and loving devotion, especially to their young. If you lived at the edge of our green roof with its steep drop, would you know how to lovingly care for newborn sextuplets come rain or shine, without a roof over your head? How would you feed those six babes? Mama birds instinctively know how to care for, protect and feed their brood.
God, who is not only our Father but also our Mother, is likened in Scripture to “a hen who gathers her chicks under her wings.” This tender image paints God as a protecting and sheltering God, an attribute God bestows on mothers.
Come Mother’s Day, let us gratefully honour all our mothers for their selfless love and care with which they surround us. Both those living, and all who have gone home to God, are immense blessings in our lives.
Sr. Magdalena Vogt, CPS
"Mother is a verb. It’s something you do, not just who you are."
Dorothy Canfield Fisher