As I tossed out my wild birdies’ breakfast food this morning I noticed that a solo magpie had arrived but no one else. Expecting him to start squawking and cawing to alert others to his newfound feast, I was surprised that he dug into the food in total silence. No summoning of others to his table. Now my crows make such a ruckus to call their comrades that I fear they will wake my neighbors! They prefer fully-filled banquet tables! So I did some research on the difference in the social patterns of magpies vs. crows. Magpies are solitary creatures and tend to fend for themselves. Crows on the other hand have elaborate social behaviors that include flying miles out of their way just to roost together for warmth and safety. They use these communal gatherings to transfer information about food sources, prowling predators and even grieve a fellow crow who has died! Their groupings, wrongly dubbed “murders” are actually funerals where they take time to inspect their deceased brother or sister, perhaps even assessing what killed him or her to prevent further deaths. WOW!!! Lord, I think by nature I am a bit more like solitary magpies… happily consuming my blessings with nary a thought of others. BUT, You have changed my heart. That was one of the first things I noticed 52 years ago in high school as Your Holy Spirit took up residence within me. A sensitivity and compassion for those around me! Like someone took scales off of my eyes… and even more alarmingly, my heart! What the heck?! I cared! I wanted to share! Began crowing to alert others to the feast I had found! Maybe obnoxiously so! And I’m still squawking after all these years!