Every Spring, as the rains come and the winds blow, I’m reminded of a bird I watched on an especially windy day. As he clung to a small tree branch that was swaying wildly, these thoughts flowed in and eventually became the poem below.
Spiritual Instinct
by Joel Magnes
There he is,
that tiny bird
on a branch in the wild wind –
swaying so much
he could fall any second!
But what does he care?
He knows he can fly.
He knows he is safe,
the wind cannot harm him.
How does he know?
He just knows.
Jesus knew
he was safe too,
indestructible in Spirit.
He knew
slander, hatred, violence, even death
could never destroy him.
He came to tell us
we can know
what he knew.
And in fact,
we already do.
This knowing
is our innate, spiritual sense –
a natural awareness
of our eternal, spiritual being
in Spirit’s perfect reality.
So,
however wildly
our branch may be swaying,
however loudly
the wind howls…
we know.