Faith, Love, Hope

Receiving is rarely given enough credit for its difficultly! Whether one is receiving faith, love, hope, or anything else, it is an act that is near impossible to do correctly, to do humbly, to do without grasping. Praying over this recently, I had an image of holding a little bird in my cupped hands. He was flighty, and as much as I wanted to stroke him and hold him so he couldn't get away, I knew that if I moved, he would vanish. And so I had to just sit there, letting him choose to sit with me. I thought to myself, this is my faith- hope- the love of another- and after a little while my rock statue body relaxed and sat comfortably with the little bird, who after a time nestled down snugly into my cupped palms, and then allowed me to stroke him ever so gently to straighten out his feathers.