Let's Just Sing and Dance

We could learn something from birds.  As I sit out on my patio in the early morning just before the sun fully rises, I sip my coffee and listen to the stillness of the day.  And then, like a symphony starting slowly but then building, I hear the birds singing.  The song is different each day, but I’ve come to identify some of the usual players.

There’s this one little, tiny bird who of course is the loudest and most consistent.  I call him the car alarm bird because his song is a consistent two note chirp – one low and one high.  Over and over. I don’t mind it so much except when it goes on and on – which sometimes it does.  Usually, however, he does his thing for a minute or two and then goes to the next house to do the same thing.  Kind of like a bird version of a rooster doing his cock-a-doodle do morning wake up call.  

But other birds are more melodic.  Occasionally a couple of magpies will come over to the trees in my yard and do a little melody.  I think of them as a couple cooing their vows of love to each other every day.  There’s another bird with kind of red head who sits on the electrical wires that go alongside our sidewalk.  She has a pretty song.  The only birds I’m not so fond of are the pigeons.  Mostly because all they do is take a big poo on the top of my roof and then try to make nests under our solar panels.  Also, their song is not melodic in any way.  It’s kind of like some perverts heavy breathing and it’s loud.  They are the only birds I will make an effort to chase away if they come near.  Also, because there are so many.  So, there you go.  I guess I’m bird-discriminatory.  

Overall, though, the mornings are quite nice, listening to the symphony of birds. And then the bonus is when some of the birds fly around the house.  I don’t mean a fly by (like the pigeons when I scare them off). No, sometimes I see some birds doing a kind of dance in the air while singing.  It’s joyful to watch. They’ll do a few circles and figure-eights. They’ll fly up, then over, then land on a tree branch or light post for a moment and then dance again.  I don’t always get the dance show every day but I do enjoy the birdsong regularly.

Sometimes it’s just nice to feel joy for joy’s sake.  To break into spontaneous dance.  To sing out loud – whether to greet the new morning each day or just because.  Yes, I think we could all learn something from the birds.  To just take a moment each day and feel joy.  Be grateful. Choosing happiness over sadness or fear.  

With all the craziness going on in life today – as of this writing today, March 3, 2026 – with the attacks in Israel and Iran, the continuing four-year war with Ukraine and Russia, we can all pause and take our queue from the birds and chose joy.  Troubles will always be with us, but it’s our choice for how we decide to face them and to live our lives.

I choose joy.  Pardon me while I go put on some tunes for a little spontaneous singing and dancing in my backyard.  Care to join me?

• And David danced before the Lord with all his might, wearing a priestly garment. So, David and all the people of Israel brought up the Ark of the Lord with shouts of joy and the blowing of rams’ horns.
(2 Samuel 6:14-15)

• You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy.
(Psalm 30:11) 

• But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness.
(Galatians 5:22)

• A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.
(Proverbs 17:22)

• May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13)

• Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! (Psalm 100:1-2)

• For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. (Isaiah 55:12)

• There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: … a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, (Ecclesiastes 3:1 & 4)


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