A reader sent in the below email with a message that touched my heart and may touch your’s too.

Evan, your blog, “Fling yourself free,” is delightful and reminds me of a time when the Spirit spoke to me clearly.

I had just made a non-stop 24 hour trip by bus in dead of winter from Cordoba to Mendoza, Argentina, and the bus heater was broken. When I arrived, I was sick with flu-like symptoms. I settled into the pension where I was to live. The mountains of the Andes loomed outside and I was miserable from the coldness of the winter.

In the back patio was a hanging birdcage, and in the bottom of the cage was a motley looking male canary. He hopped around the bottom of the cage covered with newspaper because his feet had frozen off. He seemed as miserable as I was. I could relate to his circumstances.

I had a blanket around my shoulders and was watching the early morning sun finally push up on the horizon.

As the day began, this little fluff of feathers began to warble and trill to greet the morning. I was so surprised at his joy.

I walked over to the cage and looked down at this really unattractive little bird on whom I had just moments before bestowed my pity and upon whom I felt we had a lot in common. With no one else around, I spoke aloud to the bird and asked, “How can you sing without feet?”

An answer came so quickly it caught me by surprise. And the response was, “He doesn’t sing with his feet, he sings with his heart!”

I was silenced and then realized that he was seeing something special and good during that cold winter morning that I was ignoring. Despite the cold and loneliness he still found a reason to be grateful.

I have since then held a special wish to one day own a male canary and see the day through his eyes and find joy in the moment no matter what my circumstances.

Again and again I keep learning the same lesson over and over—I am reminded by the Spirit, “I am not my feet. I am not my symptoms. I am something much more grand, wonderful and real. The joy of my life never dies, it never leaves. It is always here with me. I have only to stop and sense it’s presence beyond the range of my five physical senses.”

“Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” Jesus Christ