A Renewed Perspective

Starling. Although a beautiful-sounding word, most South Africans hate it. Why? Because starlings are annoying, boring and common-place birds. They are messy, noisy and reproduce at an alarming rate. But the amethyst starling (also known as the violet-backed or plum coloured starling) is unique. 

These iridescent birds are one of my favourites for many reasons. Obviously, I adore the eye-catching violet colour on their backs, but I also love the fact that they are monogamous. That simply means that they mate for life, a trait I find to be very noble. 

Besides all this, these birds are also a beautiful living lesson. Their vibrant colouring, only on the males, stands out. We notice it instantly. But something I’ve found incredibly interesting about them is that their feathers only shimmer purple at a specific angle in the sunlight. Otherwise, they just look dark reddish-brown— nothing special about that, right? These starlings look like any other bird until you see them from the right perspective. 

Isn’t that exactly like most things in life? We hear the same ancient hymns every Sunday, pass the same huge tree every morning and see the same boring people every day. Mundane, reddish-brown, normal life. We long for holidays, for a rest or for something to change so that the old light and excitement of life can return. Unfortunately, that’s not how things work. 

But what if we were to have a perspective shift? 

What if we looked at these boring, red-brown parts of our day and saw them through the light of the Son? They are no longer bores, they are blessings. That ancient hymn? Listen to those lyrics, there is gold hidden in them. That huge tree? Look at how it glows in the evening light. That person you see every day? They have hopes and dreams just like you. They’re not so boring after all.

When we start to look at our lives from a renewed perspective, we realise very quickly that nothing is boring, mundane or pointless. At least, nothing has to be. It can be vibrant, exciting and life-giving.

Now what?

It’s all good and well to know that we need a perspective shift. It’s not quite so easy to make the change. Where do we start? 

The first step is to spend quiet time with the Lord. Not just reading a devotional and saying a quick prayer. No, we need to be diving into His Word daily. With purpose. Because when we focus our minds and hearts on the Lord, we see the meaning in the dull moments. 

We need to ‘set our minds on things above’ (Colossians 3:2). The verb set implies that renewing our perspective is a conscious choice. It is not a once-off thing. Shifting our mindset is a choice we need to make daily (often more than once). Then we will see things in the Son’s light and what was once ordinary will become unique, eye-catching and vibrant. 

Now, as January draws to a close, the amethyst starling’s breeding season ends. Being migratory birds, they will disappear until November, but I hope that their lesson will remain in our hearts to carry us through this year. Keep your eyes out when November rolls around; you might just see a bright violet bird flitting around your garden.