Sometimes I need to be reminded that the universe works in my favor. I was recently sitting on my front porch during a summer evening and snipping the ends off a pile of green beans. My dog was shoving her snout at the piles of beans hoping to get a stray piece. Dogs may be carnivores but my dog has some vegan in her blood.
My hummingbird feeder swings on a chain above my porch rail and I like to keep if filled with a sugar water mixture. On this particular evening I was looking at the feeder and noticing that the amount of water looked low. I had filled it a day or two before and it shouldn’t have been that low. I stood up from my green beans and touched the side of the feeder. Some of the sugar water spilled out onto the porch railing. My dog apparently has a sweet tooth along with her vegetarian bone and she went right over and lapped up the mixture that splashed on the railing.
I cursed the fact that my new hummingbird feeder may be broken and the fact that I needed to try and fix it if I wanted to hear the beat of the hummingbird wings back at my feeder anytime soon. I also cursed the fact that while I was standing up fooling with the feeder, my vegetarian dog snuck a bunch of green beans into her mouth and was now munching them on the corner of the porch.
At this point I decided that I could only do one thing at a time. I needed to get dinner started so I chose to finish off the green beans and get them on the stove to cook. As I continued to snip the green beans and my dog finished off her pile of stolen veggies, I heard the trill of the hummingbird’s wings above my head. I looked up and saw a hummer floating about five feet from the feeder. I don’t like to make any quick movements when they are near the feeder or they will disappear into a neighbor’s bush.
As I froze in place, the hummingbird moved to the feeder and dipped his long bill into the rubber flower that serves as the trough to the sugar water. He dipped into the flower half a dozen times and then pulled away from the feeder about a foot. He hovered on the other side of the feeder for a second and then came around to the side facing me. Once he was facing in my direction, he seemed to smile and flash his ruby-throat at me. Once he was done thanking me for his dinner, he swerved off into the neighborhood.
After I caught my breath, I looked down at my dog to see if she saw what I just saw. She was more interested in licking the remaining green beans from her lips and didn’t even look up. I looked around to see if there was anyone else who had just seen this hummingbird come around the feeder, smile at me, and remind me that everything was going to be all right. The feeder was fine and the green beans would be cooked. He even reminded me that my dog was done eating my beans.
I know that I need to allow the universe to work through me. I know that the universe will work in my favor if I open myself up to the beauty all around me. The hummingbird appeared at my feeder to help me remember this fact. He could have not been a better reminder.
