The Forest for the Trees

Unknown Bird.  © singeronthesand 2011

They have mouths, but cannot speak;

eyes, but they cannot see.

Psalm 115:6

When I relaxed in the bird sanctuary the other day, I was delighted to find that there was a golden pheasant in residence there.  A bird of amazingly brilliant colors, I was determined to get a good photograph of him.  That quickly became a real game of patience, for these birds skitter everywhere at a rapid pace and rarely stand still for even a second. 

I sat down on a bench and waited for Mr. Golden to come into my viewing area.  Finally he decided to search for bugs on the ground across from me, and I trained my camera on him, focusing and refocusing as I tried to get a decent shot.  After 3-4 minutes with my camera tight against my face, he disappeared from my viewfinder and I raised my head slightly to see where he went.

What met my glance instead was a magnificent bird of a different feather perched on the bench directly across from mine, staring straight at me.  What a picture!!  If I had turned my camera two inches to the right during the time I was aiming for the golden pheasant, I would have seen this bird filling my entire viewfinder!  Of course, when I raised my head, he caught the motion and turned to flight – allowing me to capture only this photo of his head.  I have no idea what kind of bird he was [he had the same body type and long tail as the golden pheasant], but at a mere two and a half feet from me, he was simply amazing.

More often than I would like to admit, I have my eyes trained on some far-distant goal, totally ignoring those opportunities that are right in front of my face.  As my father would say, “You can’t see the forest for the trees,” or, sometimes, the trees for the forest.  Some opportunities stick around until we finally see them; others, like my bird friend, are gone in the blink of an eye.