Looking Up: A Birder’s Guide to Hope Through Grief

＂Look at the birds＂

Through the painful days of the pandemic stuck in her home, Courtney Ellis found herself looking down in despair. Soon after, her beloved grandfather died unexpectedly.

It was around this same time that Ellis took up watching birds. ＂Took up＂ might not be exactly right--as she puts it, ＂the switch flipped,＂ and she’s been borderline obsessed with birds ever since.

Looking Up is a meditation on birding as a practice of hope. Weaving together stories from her own life, including the death of her grandfather, with reflections on birds of many kinds, Ellis invites us to open our eyes to the goodness of God both in the natural world and in our own lives. By ＂looking up＂ to the birds, Ellis found the beauty and wonder of these creatures calling her out of her darkness into the light and hope of God’s promises.

Courtney Ellis is a pastor at the Presbyterian Church of the Master in Mission Viejo, California. She is the author of several books, including Happy Now and Present. She also hosts The Thing with Feathers, a podcast about birds and hope. She lives in Orange Country, California, with her husband and three children.