The manner in which we chart our lives is less a straight line on a calendar of days and more a song cycle moving upward into the future, circles growing closer as we move towards the center, where God is. Ecclesiastes declares we are made for a longing towards heaven, our true home, and so we journey, often in the dark. Signposts offer safety and comfort, from the miraculous and mundane--birdsong; the somnolence of creation's winter and the surprise of every spring; the familiar sight of a favorite chair; and the way sunlight falls in the same place each morning all help mark time as we cycle through the days. The poems in Mining the Bright Birds: Poems of Longing for Home reflect this circular, upward journey, one of changing and growth. The closer we move towards God, the more like ourselves we become. The invitation to discover our deepest longings is often a call to lean into the many ways we express ourselves--as poet or painter or simply a person whose hand holds onto the Creator's on the pathway home. Mining the Bright Birds offers a glimmer of light to shine on the way.