Lesser Goldfinch : Open Your Doors

This is a Lesser Goldfinch. This photo was taken a little bit differently than on my usual excursions. Typically I walk through the park, and as I encounter birds, I take their photos. The birds are where I direct my focus. But this morning, I first saw the sunflowers. On the surface level, I appreciated their aesthetic beauty. A bit deeper, I knew how critical they are for visiting birds. The flowers were “empty” when I first encountered them, but I knew that soon, surely, hungry visitors would make an appearance. It was the correct hour; it was the correct season. There was an inevitability to it. I stood, in readiness. My patience was rewarded with this photo - and the joy of “sharing” his meal.

Our tradition places a tremendous emphasis on the importance of hospitality. The beginning of the Jewish people, the promise of Isaac’s birth, coincides with the hospitality Abraham and Sarah showed to the visiting angels. Sodom was destroyed, in no small part, for the egregious way it treated needy visitors to the rich city. And even in our own day at our Seders - the meal to which we invite all who are hungry - we open the physical and spiritual doors of our hospitality to the prophet Elijah. We are taught to be ready for visitors; their appearance and need are inevitable. When? Who can say? But it is certain they will come, and the table should be set.

Openness and receptivity are vital for a fulfilling life. The hospitality of an open door and a shared meal are the opportunity to engage with our community - and with the unexpectedly inevitable. The posture we adopt, like the sunflowers, is our attractant. The world is awash in seeming miracles, and so the question becomes the degree to which we are open to receiving them. That openness is often in tension with our desire to insulate and to protect ourselves. But our tradition gives us guidance as to what areas must remain open and where we can shelter behind fortifications. The sunflowers, so beautifully enhanced by the Goldfinches, illustrate for us the wisdom of our hospitality tradition.