Intersection Column | A Book for the Birds

mtlmagazine
4 days ago
5 min read

by Amanda Cox

I’ve always enjoyed the outdoors, whether backpacking in the Smoky Mountains or strolling around my own backyard. Nature has a way of soothing my soul and stilling my racing thoughts. And in that quietness of spirit, I am better able to hear God speak.

Birds gained a special place in my heart about fourteen years ago. I was a brand-new momma to a baby who had an incredibly difficult time falling and staying asleep. So much so that I googled “infant sleep disorders” on more than one occasion. The wisdom of the “interwebs” informed me that there was no such thing. I wasn’t convinced.

Months on end of not getting more than two-hour stretches of sleep was starting to take its toll on my sanity. The age-old advice to “sleep when the baby sleeps” made me laugh and cry at the same time. The only time my little guy seemed fully relaxed was when I was standing and swaying. None of the other million-and-one things I tried seemed to help my sleep-fighting boy.

Winter passed, spring came, and spring brought me the birds. It became my habit to stand in my little galley kitchen swaying with my growing baby as I gazed out the back window. I was amazed at how many bird species called my wooded backyard their home all this time—unnoticed by me.

Backyard bird watching gave me something to consider besides niggling new momma worries like, “What am I doing so wrong? What magical sleep advice have I failed to unearth?” I’d whisper to my infant son the names of each new bird I spotted, and describe how the cardinals fed their fledgling young on the porch rail.

Looking back, after years of full nights of sleep, I can feel just how precious those “just the two of us” moments were. Because my restless, squirming boy filled my arms, I was forced to slow down and consider the birds. My avian friends went about without a worry, and God still provided for them. He would provide for me in this unfamiliar terrain. I didn’t have to worry about getting this motherhood thing right. I just needed to be present. I needed to be the calm in his storm.

A handful of years later we were hiking in Maine—my husband, myself, and our five-year-old son, three-year-old daughter, and one-year-old son. Our paths crossed with a group of birdwatchers. This group tugged us into their world and patiently helped my noisy, bouncy children use their binoculars to see the warblers they were out looking for. It stuck with me, how kind they were to stop and invite us into their world. There was an unhurried and gentle quality in their brief interaction that left a lasting impression. Looking back, I’m sure that was something they’d learned from waiting and watching for flighty birds.

A few years ago, a friend told me about a similar experience she’d had on a trail with her son. They walked up on some bird watchers, and before they knew it, they’d been invited to join them, pulled into the world of taking delight in the small things. By the end of the day, they’d been adopted as official members of the local birding group.

When she told me that story it reminded me of that encounter we’d had in Maine, and that was when I knew I wanted to write a story about birdwatchers and the beauty they discover in even the hardest and most painful places. I wanted to write about the difference you can make in a life if you have the courage to invite a person into your domain.

The birds and their watchers remind us that there is wonder and delight to be found if we only stop and look. Stepping out of the world we’ve created and into the one God spoke into existence does something unique to the human heart—something our eternal spirits recognize even if we don’t have words to explain it. Even if we mistakenly give the credit for the peace we feel to the created things instead of the One who created them.

Just in case you’re wondering, right at one-year-old, a switch flipped and my baby boy started sleeping four, then six, then eight-hour stretches. He’d even nap on a really good day. Now he’s a teenager and I have to repeatedly prod him to wake him up in the morning. Even after all this time, seeing that lanky teen fully relaxed and fast asleep makes me smile with gratitude for his sweet rest. Fun fact—if I’m ever having a hard time spotting a bird I’m scouting, I can count on him to find it first, every time.

About the Author

Amanda Cox is the Christy Award–winning author of The Edge of Belonging, The Secret Keepers of Old Depot Grocery, He Should Have Told the Bees, and Between the Sound and Sea. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Bible and theology and a master’s degree in professional counseling, but her first love is communicating through story. Her studies and her interactions with hurting families over a decade have allowed her to create multidimensional characters that connect emotionally with readers. She lives in Chattanooga, Tennessee, with her husband and their three children. Learn more at AmandaCoxWrites.com.

About the Book

Hometown hero Ana Leigh Watkins ventures to Bitter End, Tennessee, to help her great-aunt prepare for retirement. But when Ana's adventures in Bitter End lead her to a severed branch of her family tree, what began as a getaway to help her great-aunt becomes a transformative journey that binds together two women who, though they live on the same street, have been estranged for sixty years.

Did You Know?

Word search puzzles have been associated with a delayed onset of dementia in seniors. A study published just a couple of years ago explored the idea that seniors who frequently engage in brain-challenging activities, like word search and crossword puzzles, journaling, or playing chess, lowers the risk of developing dementia in older adults. Other cognitive benefits of word search puzzles include:

Memory Enhancement – Word search puzzles require the puzzler to recall the spelling and location of words within the puzzle. Searching for words from a list in this manner strengthens both short-term and long-term memory, according to St. Joseph’s Health.
Better Focus – The act of searching for words in a word search puzzle requires sustained attention focus. Puzzlers train and encourage their brain to stay on task for longer periods of time, thus improving focus and concentration, says a report by Houston Methodist.
Problem-Solving Skills – Educators on the online site tied2teaching state that word search puzzles stimulate logical and strategic thinking. Individuals working on word search puzzles develop a mental plan to solve the puzzle. This practice results in success with other problem-solving situations, in children as well as seniors.

Additional benefits of word search puzzles include vocabulary expansion, increased processing speed, stress reduction, and mental brain break. Besides being just plain ol’ fun, word search puzzles provide benefits for all ages. Most notably, however, are the benefits observed in seniors.

-Julie Lavender, coauthor with David Lavender of Jumbo Bible Word Search