Have you ever seen a murmuration of starlings? A murmuration is a group of starlings and there are times in their lives when they gather into a large murmuration of almost thousands of birds. As they fly they almost seem to become one being, and the group breathes and moves as a whole. Life, is like a murmuration. It is a conglomeration of many different small details working together to make a whole. These details flow into each other, much the same way each wave flows into the other with the ocean tides, or much the same way a single starling flows inside the whole.
How do they do it? It would be hard to say. It’s the animal instinct, for a large part. Their instinct is just so powerful that they are able to see a signal, the slightest tip of their fellows’ wings and they react immediately. Humans don’t always rely completely on their instinct, they like to use “reason” and “logic” but our live always seem to be rough and uncoordinated. Perhaps I will begin to make decisions, not on impulse, but on instinct. I will follow my gut feeling. That way my life can feel more natural, more fluent, more graceful.
Why do the starlings create such wonders? Why do they gather in such numbers every year to perform such a dance? That is the way God created them. Now I don’t believe God is always speaking to us, but I do believe that there are times in our lives when he gives us a succession of opportunities and suggestions alike. We are supposed to be attuned to his will so that we can react on those opportunities quickly. The way the starling is attuned to their murmuration, so they may move quick enough to perform their dance of nature. My wish, my hope, my goal is to make my life look like a murmuration. I will be always finely attuned to my circumstances around me, and the will of God, so that I may be able to become part of that fantastic dance. The fantastic dance that rises and ebbs, with success and failures, defeats and victories.
A video of a starling murmuration:
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