American Pipit : Here and There

American Pipit

This is an American Pipit.  It’s a small, somewhat drab shoreline bird.  By no means would you see this bird and marvel at its striking presence as you might with an eagle or an owl.  But in the right context, I’m completely compelled by this bird.  Weeks ago, I didn’t know they existed.  Then I studied them as I was preparing for a trip where I might encounter some.  I did in fact see one on my expedition, as expected.  My appreciation grew, though, when I came home, to a place I visit regularly and discovered that this bird is here too.  Why I’d not noticed it before is difficult to say.  They’re plentiful, and I’d often spent time in the right habitat.  They’re small and camouflaged, but in truth it’s most likely I’d simply overlooked them, unconsciously.

Jewish tradition typically depicts God as approaching us where and how we are.  We’re not dependent on pilgrimages or a series of trials to obtain an audience.  God speaks to Adam and Eve right where they are in the Garden.  Abram is told to go to a new land, not because he has to do something per se but rather to lay claim to his family’s already-deeded inheritance.  Kings and prophets hear God’s message seemingly amidst their daily lives, receiving instructions rather than seeking them out.  Moses - only - had a different experience.  God first speaks to Moses while he tends sheep, and their subsequent conversations typically occur in the Tabernacle.  But what of Sinai?  Why this once did Moses have to ascend the mountain?

Embedded in all the lessons I teach is that wisdom, spirituality, the Divine, all are accessible at all times, in all places.  Religion isn’t something we “do” in a particular building on a particular day.  Instead, our connection to the Holy is continuous and discernible everywhere we - consciously - look.  Moses, only Moses, goes up the mountain to bring back the Law that then infuses every aspect of our daily lives.  For us, whether contemplating Torah in the park photographing birds or praying in a consecrated house of worship, our relationship with God depends not on place, but only on conscious awareness.  My journey to see this Pipit reminds that what gives our lives meaning is already here, present with us, when we simply remember to look.