10 Nissan 5783 – 1 april 2023
גַּם־צִפּ֨וֹר מָ֪צְאָה בַ֡יִת וּדְר֤וֹר לָהּ֮ אֲשֶׁר־שָׁ֢תָה אֶפְרֹ֫חֶ֥יהָ אֶֽת־מִ֭זְבְּחוֹתֶיךָ יְהֹוָ֣ה צְבָא֑וֹת מַ֝לְכִּ֗י וֵאלֹהָֽי׃
Even the sparrow has found a home,
and the swallow a nest for herself
in which to set her young,
near Your altar, O L-rd of hosts,
my king and my G-d.
My parakeet has her own cage, but it is always open she can get in and out whenever she wants. She is getting a bit older and sometimes the flying doesn’t go so well, then she ends up on the ground halfway through her flight and then starts calling me to help her get back into her cage. When I walk over to her, she comes running to me, climbs on my hand and all is well again.
No idea what happened last night, I hear screeching and fluttering and then…silence….
Hey, something’s up with the parakeet. But I heard nothing…until I realised that indeed I heard nothing. She does often fall off her perch at night and then I hear her clambering back up through the bars to her sleeping spot, or if she is scared and needs me I hear her calling.
Silence…complete silence…that wasn’t right. Her cage was the empty, the room silent….light on and searching. And there she sat on the floor, scared to death. I called but she didn’t respond, I walked towards her and she didn’t come. I picked her up, her little heart I felt beating in my hand full of fear…I put her back on her sleeping spot, she looked at me with big eyes.
She stayed put, went to sleep, and this morning all was well.
But it got me thinking. Sometimes we are like the parakeet. We flutter around without being aware of danger or anything, until we fall. Then we cry to Hashem for help, and we know He is coming, we go to Him and He lifts us up and brings us back to our nest.
But sometimes the world is dark, we do not know what to call for, we are not sure if He is coming….but He is coming….because even in our silence He will hear us.
By Angelique Sijbolts
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