Lessons from birds

From my friend Marta, who recently moved to Massachusetts:

"Just this morning I was sitting in the bath and observing the birds out the window. The bath is situated in a way that gives one the sense of being in the tree; a"birds eye" view if you will. I was fascinated by the way the birds would alight on the branches above the feeder preparing to go down to the feeders below. At the right moment they would just drop down. Sometimes they would just step off a branch. Other times they would point their heads downward and dive, wings tucked tightly to their sides. I thought that as one of  God's creatures I am asked to do just that. Let go. Take the leap. Just like the birds I cannot get to the food, the essence of a spiritual life without that leap. The birds do it a hundred times a day. The more I trust that God will catch me before I hit the ground the greater courage I have. I may alight on branches all the way down. I may fall longer than I like. Eventually I just have to let go."