Wowwww! What grace filled morning moments I just experienced! Just have to share it with you… kinda wish I had video and audio footage of the movie-like experience I was just the center of giving attention to…

Sitting, reading a book on a step in the midst of front yard splendor, I noticed movement and glanced right to find an adorable little busy-wizzy humming bird flitting from red flower to red flower to red flower to red flower, slurping away.  And when she was probably at her fifteenth flower, and barely a foot away from me, she turned in the space that held her still, and stared right at me. I said a silent warm hello in my broadening smile… she happily acknowledged… then she [hummm-dee-dee-dum-dum] continued her sugar collection.  I then noticed someone to my left… a wasp of a sort, feeding off a yellow colored flower as he gently clapped his wings with joyful satisfaction. And hovering not too far from mister golden brown wasp were three to four little fly size creatures… [a-flutter a-flutter]… also deciding what to order for breakfast. 

As I turned back to mister hummer bird (she looked both male and female to me), she had moved to another set of flowers, giving way for a certain singular bee, who, grudgingly awake, still wearing his golden black striped pajamas, was completely focused on consuming his much needed high-energy first meal of the day. And as the space around me seemed to gradually resound with the music of morning bird calls that I am not yet familiar with, I noticed sir black ant making his quick light-hearted way along side my left foot, excitedly carrying a take-away meal for his relatives who were probably all groomed and awaiting his return.

Heh heh heh. What an orchestra!!

So check it, I just looked up humming bird on the Internet… did you know it is the only bird that can fly in reverse because of its unique wing pivoting system? And that it is called the “flower kisser of the skies”. I can totally see why.

In the words of a renowned bird and nature enthusiast and artist:

“Where is the person who, on seeing this lovely little creature moving on humming winglets through the air, suspended as if by magic in it, flitting from one flower to another, with motions as graceful as they are light and airy, pursuing its course over our extensive continent, and yielding new delights wherever it is seen;-who, on observing this glittering fragment of the rainbow, would not pause, admire, and instantly turn his mind with reverence toward the Almighty Creator, the wonders of whose hand we at every step discover, and of whose sublime conceptions we everywhere observe the manifestations in His admirable system of creation?-There breathes not such a person; so kindly have we all been blessed with that intuitive and noble feeling-admiration!” 

~ John James Audubon

Mister flower kisser really was a delightful treat this morning.

You know, I’ve never had a thing for bird or insect watching per se, though certain insects have had a thing for me. When I was a kid, for some odd reason, big fat flying cockroaches had a compulsion to land on me. One has actually chased me up two flights of stairs before its touchdown. Another has dodged my annihilation efforts and suddenly reappeared… perched on my knee. I still don’t think I have reached the divine depth to appreciate that. I’ve had butterflies land on me too… as I’m sure many of us have. And the other day, as I sat with a friend outside a coffee shop, a Praying Mantis flew right SMACK into my face and then fell in my lap. At first I had no idea what hit me… then my friend said, ‘Wow… that was divine intervention. That’s a Praying Mantis.” I looked down at this twig-like, grasshopper-like thing sitting in my lap staring at me with calm yet intense E.T. bug eyes.

I moved it gently and lovingly into my hand for some reason (they are prettier than cockroaches) and then asked my friend, “What do you mean… why did you say divine intervention?”

“You were thinking about something that you needed to stop thinking about,” he said, “that’s why it flew into you.” I didn’t tell him this then… because there was no need to… but… he was right.

We all know how a not-so-pleasant thought can disconnect us from our present moment reality. That Praying Mantis couldn’t have timed it better to snap me out of my mind’s antics.

Check this out… I just looked up the “Praying Mantis” on the Internet… and it is actually related to COCKROACHES! Oh for heaven’s sake! Thank God they don’t look like them. They must be very very distant cousins or something. (And I must be family too the way they keep at me.)

 The Internet article further states:

“South African indigenous mythology refers to the Praying Mantis as a God in Khoi and San traditional myths and practices, and the word for the Mantis in Afrikaans is ‘Hottentotsgot’ -which literally means -the God of the Khoi.”

Divine intervention by a divine invention. What can I say…

Thanks!

So this morning I really enjoyed my flying and buggy friends as I entered a space that I now know as their neighborhood supermarket… a space I usually walk right through without a notice… a space that until now has only been a means to get somewhere else… like to the car. And I deeply appreciated and took thorough pleasure in the experience of a high-spirited “allowing” energy that balanced life’s happenings, as each creature permitted for another to be… aware, engaged and accepting… even of me.

(-: wishing a bugga bugga good morning to all of You…..