Listening To Learn

Good morning…

After days of drizzly rain, I stepped outside with our dogs at dawn. For the first time this approaching spring, I heard an invisible bird sing, sing, sing. Melodic. Mesmerizing. Mysteriously unseen. I stood a while in the soggy grass, admiring the playful song.

This early morning experience drew me to a book I have loved for so so long, The Song of the Bird by Anthony de Mello. Inspired by the hidden creature singing in our front yard, I flipped to page 3 and savored a favorite story.

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The Song of the Bird by Anthony de Mello

The disciples were full of questions about God.

Said the master, “God is the Unknown and the Unknowable. Every statement about him, every answer to your questions, is a distortion of the truth.”

The disciples were bewildered. “Then why do you speak about him at all?”

“Why does the bird sing?” said the master.

Not because it has a statement, but because it has a song.

The words of the scholar are to be understood. The words of the master are not to be understood. They are to be listened to as one listens to the wind in the trees and the sound of the river and the song of the bird. They will awaken something within the heart that is beyond all knowledge.

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The wise will pay attention 

to these words 

and will grow in learning,

and the discerning

will receive divine guidance

(Proverbs 1:5, VOICE).

Listening to learn, might we wisely learn to listen?

….Sue…