Not long after I moved to Nashville, I got a lesson in what it means to hang on and "weather the storm."
It's important to note that I was in the midst of some strong turbulence in my life. I had doubts about my relationship, I had just moved 950 miles from the only family I had ever known, and I was homesick beyond belief. I really didn't "have" God yet but, I believed and I prayed about things the best I could.
Looking out my window one day, I noticed a dove had made her nest on a branch right outside my window. It was a pretty pitiful looking nest, just a few bits of some straw and string. And the branch it was on was so thin. There was barely enough room for her, let alone her eggs. I didn't really think much about it other than it was neat and I checked on her every couple of days. A few days after making the discovery of her nest, I made another discovery. A few branches down from the dove, on a much thicker branch, a robin had built her nest. The robin had gone to a little more trouble. It was a well-constructed nest. It looked like she had worked on it for months. And, inside the nest of course, were her little blue eggs. I was kind of in awe, that these two birds would pick "my" tree to build their nests in, right where I could see them. (I didn't know at the time that God was working something in my life.) I continued checking on the every few days. Sometimes they would be in the nest. They were beautiful birds. Then came Easter morning.
Another holiday without my mom and my family. That is when the homesickness was the worst. (My first Christmas here, I cried a lot.) We got a good spring storm that morning. It rained but, the part I remember was the wind blowing. It must have been 50 mph gusts. It went on for a few hours, rain pouring down and the strong, gusting wind. As soon as it stopped, I thought of my birds. I went to my room to check on them. There was the dove, sitting on her eggs in what was left of her nest, her feet wrapped around that thin little tree branch. Her feathers were ruffled but, her and her eggs had hung in there. My eyes moved down a few branches but, the robin and her nest were gone. Later that afternoon, I found her broken eggs on the ground. She probably made it through the storm but, her nest didn't.
Then I got it.
It doesn't matter if you have a big nest, or how well constructed it is. You can still get blown out of your tree. Take what you want from this story, get your own message out of it. I knew then that all I had to do was grab the branch and hold on really tight and that I would be okay.
Thanks for reading,
Jennifer
|
|
| Views: 18
Email This to a Friend 
