Botswana is home to some amazing birds.
Since moving out of the city and to the 'bush' almost two years ago, I have been amazed at the variety of birds I have seen through the window from my reclined position on my 'day bed' or while taking in the sights from our front porch. The count so far is over 30!
However, because of my limited mobility, getting good photos of them has been almost impossible. So for the most part, I simply have to enjoy them when I see them.
This photo is of the Glossy Starling and was actually snapped at the local Game Reserve when we were last there.
It is a good example of mis-judging reality!
In poor light or the wrong angle you can think this is just an average blackish looking bird. But with a change in angle, better perspective and good light, the most amazing iridescent colours appear!....actually the colours are there all the time...yet we can easily fail to see them...
But now that I have lived here long enough to recognise the bird more easily most of the time, I know what beauty is there. If I don't see it right away, I know I just have to wait a bit and allow the angles to change or the light to change (or move myself so that the angles change), to gain that clearer perspective. Then I can see and appreciate what is actually there.
It's not so unlike our whole honour/shame research.
As we look at the culture around us, it is so easy to not really see what is there....to just see the darkness or frustrations of the picture. But as we have come to understand more of the dynamics of honour/shame, the new perspectives have helped us to better appreciate the 'handles' in the culture on which to hang the biblical truth that needs to impact hearts. And further...to realise how much an honour/shame emphasis culture person with the added light of God's word can actually appreciate aspects of the gospel in far greater ways than I can.
This Glossy Starling is not the only bird here like this. Another that came to our garden and was busy in the tree outside our bedroom window was the Red Billed Wood Hoopoe. At first he just appeared to be a dull black in the tree, but I have learnt to take more than a cursory glance at birds. With just a little more time to pause and observe, we noticed it too has vivid iridescent colours if the angle of the light is just right. (And if you want to take a further look on the internet....my favourite iridescent bird in Botswana is the little Marico Sunbird)
Just like with the Hoopoe, learning to see honour/shame in our 'field' culture, has helped me to pause long enough to look longer at another culture - my own 'home' (Western) culture - and realise there is more honour/shame there than we realise at first glance. In fact there are more honour/shame dynamics in all of us than our Western mindset has cared to identify, they are just arranged and framed slightly differently by the cultural contexts. And interestingly, we have not only had Africans we talk to have 'aha' moments as we discuss honour/shame, but also Westerners....Westerners who begin to understand themselves better in the light of what God's Word has to say on the topic.
So often in our fast paced, instant, rushing world, we have to pause a little longer if we are going to be able to see, what is actually there all along....stuff we just don't see because either we don't take the time to linger in observation, or take the time to gain a new perspective, or take the time to wait to let the light (of truth from God's Word - Ps 119:105) increase! Pray for us that as we desire God's truth to reach deep into hearts to transform lives, that we will not be impatient, but be willing to do all three - linger in observation, do what is needed to increase a new perspective, and wait and watch to see what the Light in such contexts will reveal!
And maybe in your corner of the world....you could pray the same for yourself too.
