The Balance Garden podcast finally returns with a springtime special celebrating the resurgence of nature with special guest Sam Lee, talking about Singing with Nightingales and other unusual outdoor events.

And so we shake off our winter slumber, and reemerge with the buzz of eager pollinators hungry for the fresh nectar bursting from the early blooms, as new shoots push through the frost-hardened ground, and the trees unfurl their fresh leaves to feed on the sunshine once again, it is a new world out there.

Like the rest of the natural world, we adapt. Not always easily or quickly, but inevitably. The myths told in Springtime in many different traditions centre around rebirth, and liberation from mental or physical constraints of one form or another. One such tale, as told by Mark Sparrow, involves The Celtic Goddess, Ēostre, who was venerated at this time of year, and honoured with the planting of seeds and the welcoming of new life into the world. 

Legend tells of Ēostre finding a wounded bird, struggling to survive on the frosty winter ground. To save the bird’s life the Goddess transformed her into a hare. But, although the bird took on the hare’s appearance, she retained her ability to lay eggs. Ever after, the hare would decorate her eggs and leave them as gifts for Ēostre.

Hares become bunnies, eggs become chocolate, resurgence becomes resurrection, Ēostre becomes Easter. The outside layer may change and transform, but the heart remains the same – the celebration of new life and new hope. And there is always new life and new hope, even amidst unimaginable chaos and destruction.’

Each year in April, the Nightingale returns to the South East of England and begins to sing its famous song until late May or Early June, once it has enchanted a mate into its nest for the British summer. It’s a secretive bird which likes nothing better than to hide in the middle of an impenetrable bush or thicket. So inspired by its song, Sam Lee has spent the past few summers seeking out the nightingale for a midnight duet, who now dedicates a season of events to Singing with Nightingales. I managed to catch him before he disappeared into the thicket for a chat about these unusual events. To find out more about Sam’s events with The Nest Collective, and for the last few tickets to Singing with Nightingales this May, head to thenestcollective.co.uk

So we return to a world changed, but how we return to it, how we change, whether a species adapts or declines, and what is brought from the past into the future, what we bring to the world, that is the choice, that is the freedom to choose.

Here is a poem called Narrative Theology by Padraig OTuama

And I said to him, are there answers to all of this?

And he said, the answer is in a story & the story’s being told.

And I said, but there is so much pain.

And she answered plainly, pain will happen.

Then I said, will I ever find meaning?

And they said, you will find meaning where you give meaning.

The answer is in a story, & the story isn’t finished.

The question is not where but now

there question’s never finished

or exhausted

and the answers in the asking

not the answer

the answer’s in the breathing of the question

in the love of holding onto

what was never whispered never seen

but what we dreamed of in the morning

then forgot while venus hid

the answer’s in the living not the knowing

the answer’s in the telling of the story

in half forgotten memory

and all unfinished stories

the answer’s in the showing time of senses

the answer’s in the question

in the learning

in the fading page of writing

in the letter sent to lovers

in the paying for the other

the answer is the generous

is the truthing

the absolutely truthful anger

and forgiving is the giving of what you don’t deserve

it’s what I’ll serve because you’re hungry

even though you may not know it

the answer’s in the living and the dying

in the trying for redemption on an empty hill of crosses

it’s the shoring up of hope and the gathering of losses

it’s the looking for companions in the hills and in the glens

it’s the waking up and walking up and starting up again

the answer’s in the living

and the trying.

And I said to the wise man,

what is the answer to all this

And he said the answer’s in the story

and the story’s just unfolding.