Morning Sounds

As I sat over coffee early one morning last week, little birds sang a delightful chorus outside my open window.  And then, suddenly, all I could hear was CAAAAWWWW!!  CAAAWWW!!  Two black birds sat in the trees and complained loudly, invading the peace of the morning, slicing though the gentleness of a new day, setting my heart on edge. 

And I thought, whoa, I hope that I don’t sound like THAT!  Like a loud, complaining crow?  Not a great way for anyone to start the day.

As I used to say to our girls when they would say something harsh or unkind, “What is a different way to say that?”

Speak the truth, yes, but always in love, wrapped in grace.

At the end of the day, I saw yet another black bird fly into a neighboring tree, bellowing his annoying cry of complaint through the summer air.  I had enough of that.  “You will not take up residence here,” I thought outloud.  I clapped my hands sharply three or four times to chase it away.  And not one, but SIX, of the birds flew out of the surrounding trees, rapidly out of sight and sound.  And in the ensuing days, they have not been back.  Those cries of despair and complaint can be banished from becoming permanent and annoying members of our households or personal lives.  It doesn’t have to be that way.  But it takes deliberate action to keep murmuring and harsh words from landing and nesting there.   

Of all the teachers our children had through the years, the kindness of one is far distinguished from the rest.  Mrs. O’s first-grade classroom was orderly and happy.  The children responded immediately and willingly to her requests.  And she never raised her voice.  Gentleness prevailed.  When I asked her how she did it, she replied, “Velvet over steel.”  Her firm expectations were coated in grace and love and a kind quiet voice.  She knew that force and harshness only stir up anger, stubbornness, and trouble.  She also knew that she set the tone for the classroom.  She could not expect the children to respond, if she was always reacting.

Morning sounds reverberate throughout the day.

And it starts with me.

 

…and the teaching of kindness

              is on her tongue.

                 Proverbs  31.26