Let me seek, then, the gift of silence, and poverty, and solitude, where everything I touch is turned into prayer: where the sky is my prayer, the birds are my prayer, the wind in the trees is my prayer, for God is in all. – Thomas Merton, Thoughts in Solitude
Let no one think it ridiculous to learn a lesson in virtue from birds. Does not Solomon instruct us: “Go to the ant thou sluggard, consider her ways and be wise”? – Bede, The Age of Bede