An embodied, sacred relationship with creation requires a break from all the consumption and the waste it produces. I have the opportunity to travel to Portugal this spring and spend a week learning at the A Rocha Center there. A Rocha is a faith-based global conservation organization operating in 20 different countries around the globe. As I read and prepare, I am struck by the prevalence of birds and birding in general as a focus during our week. And I am curious. What do birds have to do with it? So many of the environmentalists and conservationists that I’ve read about or heard of in one way or another have ties to birding. Does studying birds have some link to developing a more embodied, sacred relationship with creation? Could the tide turn on our waste obsessed culture if we take the time to learn from the birds? Some verses in the book of Matthew come to mind, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?  Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?” Is not our wasteful consumerism driven by that first verse? Concern over food, the right diet, the latest trends; concern over our bodies, exercise equipment and classes; clothing, fast fashion, ethical purchases. These worries and concerns lead to so much waste. Instead, Jesus tells us to look to the birds. They are free of these wasteful worries and concerns. Perhaps paying more attention to birds and less to consuming all the things is an excellent step to breaking free of waste of our culture. The founder of A Rocha, Peter Harris writes that birds are “like a touch of God’s Holy Spirit bringing colour and a sense of special presence in the middle of everyday urban life.” In my longing to move toward a more embodied, sacred relationship with creation, I hope to learn from the birds.