Sounds of the garden

John 3:8
The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” (NIV)
I hear not the rustling grass, my dear heart keeps it well mowed, but the croaking of the lovely green tree frog. Often he hides in my planters watching me weed and wondering about this giant above him. His beautiful green skin seems to glisten with soft shadows and again I see a treasure. He croaks quietly in the day but at night there is a cacophony of sound as together the multitudes croak to their Creator for the gift of finding a mate to continue the generations.
The pileated woodpecker as he searches for bugs under the bark, his holes make a pattern. One wild lilac tree damaged so badly that it needed to be cut off to below the damage. Now it is growing again with fresh vigor. Who knew damage could produce fresh growth. Like the regeneration that comes following forgiveness and repentance.
The Quail call their gathering song and a covey burst over the fence and thirty of them land and run about my garden with such confidence and joy. I stand still at the window and watch, entranced with their togetherness. Until a cat thrusts itself into view and the call for danger is given and they flee to the trees. Sharing the wonder of exploring and turmoil of danger together. Like God putting us in families so we would not be alone, different maybe than what we were born into, but bonding together and supporting one another.
The Towhees jump back and forth under the leaves scratching for grubs and other morsels.Quietly seeking food preferring to stay in the shadows. The quiet, gentle ones seeking no praise, just showing up and doing the work in the quiet place.
The Hummingbirds come and drink the nectar and buzz around me as I work and walk and watch.They soar and delight in the flowers as they come into season, fiercely protecting their own supply. There is one who stays for the winter and he flies up and down the window letting me know his supply of nutrition is getting too low for his liking. Another soars up and down at supper time letting us know that he too likes to eat at a regular time. Watering my garden with a hose one landed in my apple tree and sat there in the full spray of the hose for quite a time reveling in the spray and chattering away to me the whole time. Demanding attention and they fill the air with noise and busyness, colourful and so entertaining, they are the ones who make you laugh.
The sparrows fill up the front porch bird houses with their young and chirp all summer and in the winter they continue to hide on the roofs of the bird houses watching and waiting for the warmth of the Christmas lights.Busy bodies, forever getting in the way, wanting more and more, filling the world with more of themselves.
This year for the first time we had a pair of swallows come and nest, taking on the attacking sparrows and winning the middle nest. My dear heart loves the sparrows, me not so much, preferring the elegant swooping of the swallows as they soar all over the garden, swooping up the pesty insects from the air. The gently loving parents who watch and swoop for their babies but also accomplish an unsuspecting amount of work in their world.
The crows watch for an opportunistic thrust of their beak into an unsuspecting nest to leave the parents bereft of this year's young. Cawing their great pleasure in their carrion ways. These are the bossy, very clever ones, who fill the area with their yelling and destroy the young around them.
The wrens chitter in the back yard with their brown tiny bodies as they flit in the fruit trees and move with such delicate movements. The gentle tiny souls who are often neglected but are such a hidden treasure.
The eagles soar over the Sooke hills often circling past the roof of the house, seeking food for their babies or exploring the explosion of new homes where fields were once their hunting ground. These ones see everything, they notice more than most but do not interfere only taking what they need to survive.
The turkey vultures drift in the wind pockets seeking to devour any less than living thing. Removing all the dead and smelly things from the area, they are ugly and not welcome but so necessary.
Canada Geese fly over the house as has been their habit for generations as this is a fly-way for their ilk. The perfect V formation and the sound of honking and sound of their wings so mystical as they make their way to some water expanse, either fresh or salty. Known the world over as Canada Geese and to us they are a nuisance,  dropping their feces and polluting the land and the water. They mate forever and they protect their goslings to the death. They fly in flocks and will never leave a damaged one behind to suffer alone. Just like us I think, some parts good and others not so good.
The sound of the elementary school down the road as the children laugh and shriek with joy and other emotions. The sound of O Canada as they sing it at the opening of classes, it wafts into my garden and reminds me how precious this country is to me.What a blessing that children in our country can grow up unafraid and privileged to attend school. Many do not appreciate the gift that is theirs, "freedom.'
The sound I hear in my heart is gratitude for the many sounds in my garden, how diverse, how luxurious, how joyous. Our great and wonderful Creator has made all these things for us to enjoy and delight in.