Meet Chuck

Here is the red-bellied woodpecker
who has been frequenting my
hummingbird feeder . Not to be mistaken with the red-headed woodpecker which, according to my
research, is a rare species . (Although, truth be told, you do have look mighty close to see the "red" (pink?) on his belly.)

He had come so often while I was doing dishes that I felt he deserved a name, not just "the woodpecker."




All I could think of was the tongue twister:
How much wood would a woodchuck chuck,
if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

So I named my woodpecker Chuck, not for the groundhog-like woodchuck, but for the wood part
of the rhyme. As if anyone cares.



I do feel that he is my little gift from God. He comes and goes at will, but it does seem he alights when my spirits are beginning to descend . He reminds me that God is taking good care of him, that he was happy and healthy being fed and watered by God long before I put my supply out there for him. So in a sense he tells me, "Don't worry. Look at the sparrow--or the woodpecker--are you not important to God than we are?"

Chuck gives me such pleasure . He is not the least bit helpful, carries out no mission on my behalf, doesn't even know or care that I'm here . He makes me think of the verse ,"For Thy pleasure we are created." God didn't have to create us. He wanted to. To bring Himself pleasure. He needed nothing or no one. He simply wanted us .