The Pelican Feather

When I was really young, I remember my family went to Australia for a holiday.

I remember there was a pelican on the grass. And the grass had shed pelican feathers in the relative proximity. The pelican just sat there, quietly, in the midst of the crowd of people surrounding it.

And then, all of a sudden, the guide stopped talking to the group, went to a feather and picked up a large, beautiful one. I hadn't said a word, but the guide walked over to me, and I was stunned, when he handed me that feather. Thinking back, my eyes probably glowed when I saw that field of feathers, glowing which no one noticed, not even myself, except for the guide.

I carried that feather all the way back home to Singapore. It took up residence on my bedside table, proudly the centrepiece of all my childish possessions (I was still a kid then, after all). It was as if it beautified my whole surroundings, and even my whole life, just by being there. I even brought it to school, I was so proud of it.

And then, one day, I had to throw it away. We were moving house, and in the new phase of my life I was going to, I knew it wouldn't really fit in. There was no place for a grey feather, once a pristine white a long time ago. Time took its toll, life asked for me to move on.

So I said goodbye to the feather, and parted ways with it ever since. I don't know what else I left behind in my old house, but it was a whole load of 'goodbye' to the old.

I was 17 by the time we moved. I can't recall how long I had that feather with me. Many years at least.

I remember it just as its pristine white self, that moment when I first received it in Australia. It's a good thing it didn't move with me. Or it would have rotted and ruined its own memory.

It's kind of like Life, isn't it. Some things you don't expect, they come into your life or possession, as if someone knew you'd wanted it all along. Then you have the best time with it for the longest time. Before you know it, sometimes, you have to say 'goodbye' to it. Not all things are meant to follow you for your whole life. They come, form a part of your most wonderful memories, then you have to move on, because their purpose in your life has been fulfilled.

The beautiful thing is, you know there's something else even better than the last thing coming, even if you don't realise. Its like how God is our tour guide, and He sees our desires, even if we don't know them ourselves. Sometimes we get something for a time, and then we have to move on. Other times, we'll get things for eternity.

What is one thing that's eternal? God's love for us, that's for sure. Anything else?

Man is always changing, as all human beings are. Material possessions fade away. Money doesn't follow you when you die.

I'm glad I have found, or was found by, that one eternal thing. So for all the temporal beauty in my life, when I have to say 'goodbye' to people or possessions, till I find something more enduring, it makes pains in life more bearable.

I've walked in that field of feathers in my thoughts now, imagining what it'd be like, every time God hands me a feather. Something that I never noticed, but always wanted. Some small feathers, some big ones.

I look forward, and am still waiting, for the time when God hands me the pelican.