Yesterday I found Zen.
It was early morning. The air was cool. There was a mist. Just another morning I thought. I got up from bed. I looked out my window and noticed a sparrow. Just sitting on my doorstep. The sparrow is my favorite bird. I walked outside to get a closer look at him. I reached out my hand for the simple chance that he would perch on my finger. I then grew scared that I may scare him away. But he just sat there. Not as birds do. Not moving around or looking for food or anything like other birds do. He just stood there. I knew he was alive because his head was moving, side to side. Like you do when you're sitting on a sandy beach looking at the ocean's waves. I sat there just staring at him. And he stared back. Looked me in the eye. Then went back to looking around. There were other birds. Flying and chirping among the trees around us. I wondered what he was doing here. Did he even know? I sat with him for a while. All the while contemplating his thoughts. Then I tried to look at what the bird was looking at. The trees. The sky. The good earth. I sat there observing the world. Seeing the world through a bird's eyes. In that moment I knew that if he could, he would sit there on that doorstep until the end of his days. I then dubbed him my bird. My sparrow. His name "Whisper". I sat there for a good while. Later I grew hungry and went in to have some breakfast. It must have been only a few minutes. I then headed again outside to sit with the sparrow for longer. Scared that he may had already left and joined other birds and forgotten me. I looked at the doorstep and my heart sank. He was laying on his side. Still and motionless. His eyes were still open. No longer were his eyes looking at the good earth. My sparrow. My whisper. Food is no longer important to me.
I had found Zen.
Not even a sparrow can fall without God's notice.
