I recently had a magical experience the angels asked me to share with you, because it demonstrates the power of random acts of love… and our angels.

The winter season in New England is long and it can sometimes feel like spring will never come. The colors are predominantly monochromatic with shades of brown, grey and white when it snows.

The evergreens provide comfort for the eyes and the red from clusters of winter berries pop the heart open in joy.

One of our favorite ways to keep ourselves stapled in appreciation for this quiet time of inner growth and contemplation is to feed the birds where we can watch them from our living room.

The cardinals, tufted titmice, sparrows, bluejays, and occasional bluebirds are a feast for the senses.

To prepare for the cold months with our feathered friends, I purchased 100lbs of what I thought was standard wild bird food. When it arrived, Peter opened the boxes and asked, “Did you mean to order just njyer seed?” (Aka black thistle.)

Oh crap. No! Maybe Chewy made a “mistake”.
Nope, it was 100% me.

Nyjer seed is just for songbirds and we use it in 1 out of 5 of our feeders. Most of our birds won’t eat it.

Momentarily flipping out and turning my authority over to fear…
I wondered if I could return 90lbs of of it. 90lbs.. a lot to deal with. Too much.
A self flagellating thought about the cost, the money wasted, coursed through my consciousness and body.

When I realized I was spinning, I caught myself, took a breath and centered in Love. An image of our local Facebook group came to mind, along with an image of me wearing a Santa hat.

“I know! We’ll give it away!”
Peter smiled and said, “Sure!”

I posted a photo of me as the Birdfood Elf, holding a bag of the food and inviting 5 people to raise their hands if they’d like a bag – for either pick up or delivery.

People were surprised, excited and very appreciative.

And there’s more…
The magical frosting on the cake was that in an obtuse kind of way, we had a connection with 3 out of 5 of the people who raised their hand. (And no, not a Facebook algorithm thing, because I’m not friends with them on social media.)

One is a woman I know from another phase of our lives here, one lives at the same house I spent a good amount of time at because our daughter had a friend who lived there and the third one exclaimed when I told her where we live, “Oh! My husband says that’s where Peter lives!” He’s a friend from Peter’s soccer team. They spent 45 minutes catching up this morning.

There are no mistakes, only opportunities.

Next time you feel like you’ve blundered, see if you can flip it into an opportunity.

Choose love. Always.

Happy Holidays!
All my love,
Elvia