This morning, I learned from an Italian Mama about stillness and listening, especially in those sacred hours of late evening and early morning. We don’t stop and listen to God. We don’t stay still long enough.
Last night, I saw a hummingbird eat at the feeder and then fly upwards to perch on a branch of the Winterberry Bush. She stopped. Her wings stopped. Her movement stopped.
I had always wondered about this possibility of stillness. I never imagined hummingbirds ever stopping.
But here she is. Still. It seems like she’s listening to something.
I wonder if she sat to cool off in the shade of the leaves. I wonder if, for once, she felt the raindrops beneath her tiny body on the shiny black limb. I watched her for a full minute. Her marvelous emerald feathers radiated even in the dusk.
Was she reorienting? Was she catching her breath to make a decision?
It was the most peaceful thing in the world for that minute.
Then she flew away.