His Nest is Best

"Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God. Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise!" Psalm 84

With curiosity I have watched her, this brown-breasted one....her frenzied, sporadic flights back and forth....her anxious toil building her nest....this robin making her home with us; from a distance, I notice him...his steady, patient gaze never moving from her....this strong one claiming his mate...he soaring with grace; she in a frenzy of works...

He comes to her, taking the burden of her nest, urging her out....her wings broaden; emboldened she flies out further into the world....over and over again, he swoops in despite her squawking, urging her forward.....her short, arduous flights transform into the freedom of soaring...

Now she serenely sits upon three blue gems waiting for them to hatch....her eyes fixed on the surety of the horizon, faithfully looking to him for guidance as he guards their nest...

Ten years ago....you were twenty-three, wiser than you knew, true, authentic....I was twenty-two; a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child, I had not yet given up my childish ways of loving....my wing span maddeningly short...

You watched the brevity of my love flights....you understood the stifling limitations of my "self" nest....the flimsy straw of control packed with the muddiness of who I thought I was, who I thought I should be...the drudgery of loving with expectation....gracefully you flew to me....

You gave of yourself to marry a child...You came into my noise, the endless flapping of my needs....you shifted my view from my nest to the endless horizon of His mercy and grace....you showed me the love of Christ, re-building our nest on the sure foundation of His sacrificial love....and, now I sit peacefully on this nest of ours, trusting your guidance....

On your thirty-third birthday, you should know that WHEREVER you soar this sparrow will find a nest to lay her young