Precarious Perch

Well, I’ve seen it all. I’ve suspected for a while that Doves are not the smartest birds in the air. This nest warmer is in for a big surprise if the owner of that bike decides to go for a ride. No, that’s not my bike. I am now officially “bike-less”, but that’s another story for another time. Is there a life lesson from this strange picture? How about…life can be rather precarious, sometimes because of our own poor choices, sometimes because of nature’s rhythms, often in ways we cannot anticipate or understand. We worry about crossing bridges that are still in the future or those bridges we burned on the way to here. Sometimes we create our own precarious moments…like mother Dove who sits on a very unstable nest.

But in the unknown, and in the shaky moments, we press on with an inner assurance that while we can shape decisions and outcomes by our actions and choices, there is an Ultimate One whose dream is for every element of creation to live in harmony with the other parts, for there to be peaceful contentment in the human village, and for justice and mercy to be the standards by which we live our days. Mama Dove may have made a poor decision, by our human standards and knowledge, but, whether she knows it or not, she is loved as much as I am by the Architect of All Things, the God incarnate in Jesus of Nazareth. And even when the house falls (or the nest) we are able to fly again because of that Force that lifts us.

Say a prayer today for Mama Bird, for all of us flapping our wings in work or play, and for those no longer able to fly on their own. We are loved deeply by the same Sustaining Source.