It’s the little things in life that we take for granted most on a daily basis, the song of a bird, the sunshine beaming down on our faces on a warm summers day or the smell of a brightly colored flower that presents itself in spring. These are but a few of the moments in time that most allow to pass without even a turn of the head to account for their existence.
For some people, however, those little moments are what is most important in marking the day, the minute, the second and taking the time to take a time-out to notice them is viewed as a gift.
One man in particular, not only takes time out of his day to soak in such spender, he becomes involved in the process of it all. Seventy-eight year old Ben Phillips has had plenty of time to be busy. He spent his whole life working from the time he was small on the farm, to the time he retired from the body and paint work business. He now has a little more time to spend noticing the not so small things, one of which are the multitude of hummingbirds that have decided to share Phillip’s front porch with him.
“I really can’t recall when they showed up, maybe three or four years ago,” said Phillips with a smile on his face. “I just know they kept coming,” he chuckled.
Their arrival may be a mystery, but their lingering around isn’t hard to solve. Phillips puts out a gallon and a half of sugar water each and every day for the birds in seven different feeders that line his porch liken to a welcoming mat.
“It’s really pretty easy,” said Phillips on making the birds happy. “I just mix water and sugar together and bring it to a boil,” he added.
Phillips makes sure he has at least a few gallons in the refrigerator at a time. He likes to serve his sweet concoction cold. “They seem to like it better that way,” he says. “I make sure I always have some ready to pour,” said Phillips.
Since Phillips has been pouring himself into making sure the birds get what they want to make them happy, he is sure the word has spread around, because on any given day it’s not unusual to see at least 40 hummingbirds fluttering around his feeders.
“They don’t seem to be scared of me. Kinda gotten used to me I guess,” said Phillips, who fills his feeders with the buzz of several hummingbirds darting around his head.
“I really love to watch those birds,” said Phillips spending some of his extra time sitting on his porch in awe of what God has created.
For Phillips, the visits from the hummingbirds are a glorious part of his life now. He considers himself lucky to be able to view such a magnificent occurrence. Making sure the many feeders are full isn’t a job to him, but a pleasure.
The birds disappear with the approach of colder weather, says Phillips. But they always come back around spring time where they will find not only the sweetness of sugar water, but of a man who takes the time to take the time.
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