Lessons from a bird...

I am so thankful that our God is a lover of beauty. Can you imagine a world devoid of color, of flowers and trees? I'm thankful that he created us with eyes to see, ears to hear, and minds to comprehend our surroundings. I'm struck by the beauty of the world He created every time I look out our window. I enjoy watching the flowers poke up through the mulch, grow taller and bloom with vibrant colors. I am especially fond of watching the birds that have decided to make our home, theirs.

The birds seem to love our house. I wake up to a virtual symphony every morning. They hang on our window screens, sit on our rain spouts and sing their little hearts out. One bird family has a nest behind a shutter, another has just built a nest in my hanging basket. My husband accidentally found this particular nest. He took the flowers down to water, and those persistent little birds (who had been trying to build over our front door) had settled in among the flowers and laid three tiny, speckled eggs. He called us all to come and see. They were so beautiful and small, so fragile and unprotected there. He gently put the basket back on its hook under the watchful eyes of the mother and father bird. The kids and I find ourselves going to the dining room window to peek out and see the mother bird sitting on her eggs. She sits there so quiet and still, all of her energy focused on protecting those tiny eggs.

As a mother myself, I feel I understand her as she sits quietly among the flowers, protecting her little ones. Her instinct is to protect and nurture, to feed, to train and eventually release her little ones into the care of the One who made them. She's really not so different than me. I too have the privilege of protecting, nurturing, training and eventually (not too soon, please!) releasing my children to try out their own wings. Even on those difficult days of mothering, I need to remind myself how quickly the time passes, how little time they really spend in our "nest." As I enter each new phase of mothering, may I wait with quiet expectation safely under the wing of my Heavenly Father.