Grumpy Gratitude and Doing Good.
Family often has a way of bursting our bubbles or balloons - metaphorically speaking - usually through its members. This happened to me last week. I was proudly displaying my bird feeder and the birds enjoying it, only to be told that feeding birds actually disempowers them. The person argued that the birds might forget how to fend for themselves in the tough world because food comes too easily. While I believed I was caring for creation by looking after the birds, I was being told that I was, in fact, harming them! Can our good intentions sometimes lead to harm? The New Year is typically a time when we resolve to do more good for others, spurred on by an inner drive to be more generous and kinder than before. Despite a culture that encourages us to be “expressively individualistic” - I’ll touch on that later - this pricking of my bubble made me consider whether my well-meaning actions might inadvertently be causing damage. The fish I keep in my tank, s...