The Birds Their Carols Raise
The Birds Their Carols Raise
by Joyce DeToni-Hill | St. George, UT
Last April I walked the Camino Inglés. I was anxious about politics and things beyond my control. My spirit longed for resurrection hope. I spent Holy Week in Ferrol attending the community processionals, visualizing my own grief being lifted and carried through the streets with the crowds. My walk began on Easter Monday with the intention of praying and walking into resurrection hope. But I was grieving and so distracted that I found it difficult to focus.
Then I met Dave from London, who shared over a hotel breakfast table that the Camino was calling him to watch birds. As I walked with Dave a portion of each day, he slowed our journey to share his binoculars and point out the regional uniqueness of species. My spirit lifted as I recognized I was constantly surrounded, serenaded in the gift of birdsong. I remembered a study affirming that birdsong calms, signals safety, reduces cortisol, and enhances attention. One early morning in the woods amidst a bird chorus, I recalled the phrase, “the birds their carols raise” from the hymn “This Is My Father’s World.” That hymn became my daily walking meditation as my eyes opened to the beauty revealed before me step by step.
This is my Father’s world,
And to my listening ears
All nature sings, and round me rings
The music of the spheres.
This is my Father’s world:
I rest me in the thought
Of rocks and trees, of skies and seas;
His hand the wonders wrought.
This is my Father’s world,
The birds their carols raise,
The morning light, the lily white,
Declare their maker’s praise.
This is my Father’s world,
He shines in all that’s fair;
In the rustling grass I hear him pass;
He speaks to me everywhere.
My original intention was that I would pray into resurrection, but it was the bird’s carols that prayed me into Easter Joy. Post Camino, I often return those life-giving memories to restore me once again with their canticles of joy.
“This is My Father’s World.” Lyrics by Maltbie Davenport Babcock. Public domain.
