More Lessons from the Birds

More Lessons from the Birds

A few months ago I wrote about Polly, a bird with only 1 leg who hangs out by my window at work. Scroll back a few posts if you missed it, I promise it’s worth it.

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Today we meet Polly’s friends Donald and Daisy. (No they aren’t ducks, and they don’t wear clothes). All week I’ve been watching this pair of birds plan their family. And they are encountering obstacles! No they aren’t going to their fertility vet or going to the pet store to adopt a parakeet. They are building their nest and having a heck of a time at it. They have chosen to build their nest on top of this metal structure outside that bars the windows (can’t have us rascally employees escaping now can we?). There is plenty of room for our feathered friends to perch up there, but there is not much room for a nest. So twig by tiny twig they build their nest, only to have the wind – or the weight of the new twig, knock free some of the previous ones. I keep cheering on Donald and Daisy because no matter how many twigs fall or what other setbacks they encounter they just keep flying down, grasping another twig, and adding it to the nursery they are building for their future babies.

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What lessons am I learning from Donald and Daisy? Persevere through problems, follow your heart, follow God’s guidance, you name it! These feathered parents-to-be aren’t asking God why it is so hard to build their nest. They are simply doing what their instincts tell them to do, and that is build the nest and keep building until it is done. It might be hard, it might take them a long time, and it might seem futile at times, but they keep on keeping on. That certainly defines how an infertile couple’s journey sometimes goes.

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It’s also teaching me a lesson about doing things the hard way. Maybe these guys would have an easier time at if they picked a more stable place, like high up in a tree nestled in between the branches. Maybe sometimes God doesn’t let us have the baby right away that we long so hard for because we aren’t in a stable relationship, or don’t have a stable income or health insurance. That doesn’t meant that we aren’t meant to have a baby ever, or that having a baby should only happen when everything is perfect in your life, it just might mean that we God is waiting a little while for things to get a little more stable. These birds can still have their nest building succeed, it just takes longer to make it stable enough to lay eggs in.

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Where else can we find meaning in the world around us?