Woodpecker worship

I saw that woodpecker again just now. I was down at the bottom of what I call the Primrose Walk, right at the edge of our land. I was hacking away some old nettles and brambles when I heard a familiar sound.

It was the same plaintive knocking that I heard last week and I thought, that woodpecker's about somewhere. So I stopped and listened. I pinpointed the direction of the sound and caught a flash of red. Then the whole bird came into all its glorious view.

As I stood there moved but unmoving, watching this green, red and black creature pecking away at the tree with bits of bark flying off in all directions I began to thank God for that moment, that sight, that bird and I realised that it was a form of worship.

It was not hands-in-the-air worship, or singing-fit-to-burst worship, not even liturgical worship but woodpecker worship: thanking God for his glorious creation summed up in a beautiful busy bird.

Then other birds joined in the chorus and I was transported with delight. How great it would be if we in the Western world could all join in woodpecker worship. In other words: stop, listen, look and worship.

PS I got the picture off the internet. My camera is broken. Ah well, back to work.