Peregrinati anyone?
September 30, 2009
God has had this little word game going on with me for the past year. It all started one day over a meal where I was telling a friend what I’d been up to that week, as a way of explaining how my life is lived. I had described a compulsion to walk from one specific place to another, and how God had brought to mind certain scriptures and prayers as I made the journey.
My friend spoke of ‘The Order of the Peregrinati’; people who God asks to be available, so that when He needs to partner with a human to get something done on Earth, they will follow His instructions and the thing will get done. I must say, I liked it. There was also mention of another chap I should meet who had similar experiences to me.
When I threw ‘peregrinati’ at a search engine it threw back stuff about pilgrimage and ‘wandering for the love of God’. Oh yes, now I was liking it even more.
It has taken a year for our paths to finally meet, but this last weekend I bumped into the aforementioned chap of similar experiences. There were many things in our conversation which are going to feed me and keep me asking questions for a long while, but the one that has got me going first was this idea of ‘peregrinati’. This chap spoke, in a kind of throwaway, offhand manner of a link to peregrine falcons. “Is there?” I asked, jumping in immediately, because I’d spent sometime last week (3 hours drive away) looking with my son for a pair of peregrines.
“Oh yes,” he said and proceeded to tell me that there were peregrine falcons living in the city where I live.
No Way.
I’ve taken my son on several birdwatching trips over the past year, often deliberately taking in a spot where there are peregrine falcons in order to see his favourite bird. Funny thing is, its my favourite bird, too, though I’d never told him that. So we’ve travelled all over this nation to see a bird that we could have hopped on the bus to see in the very city where we live. There have been people in Royal Society for the Protection of Birds uniforms with telescopes offering the public a chance to spot these birds in one of the city’s squares. And we didn’t know about this? In planning our trips I’d used the internet a lot, but never discovered the easy to find website with a web cam and diary charting the progress of a pair of peregrines in our city centre over the past three years.
So, two things…
I’m pretty sure the arrival (not introduction, but natural arrival) of the peregrine falcons in our city – and incidently, other cities – contains a sign from God. I’m not sure what that sign is, but I’m sure there is one. Why are these previously endangered, scarce birds now here (spring 07, 08, 09)?
The fact that this very public event has been hidden from me (and my son) is remarkable. I think God is saying something to me about this too. I’m starting to pick up some of this, but I haven’t heard it all yet.
What do you think?
Is God speaking to you about any of this?
