I was in the room during the birth!

A birds eye view for me!

So, I recently had a -first time in my 53 years of life- experience.

Out my daughter’s living room window about 3 feet away from our invasive peering eye balls, in our palm trees, a mama Cardinal made a nest and laid 3 eggs. I got to watch her nest for days on end without seeing her leaving for more than 10 minutes a day (probably to eat, drink and stretch her wings). Honestly, it seemed quite boring for her. She just sat there day in and day out nurturing those eggs. What commitment! I even made sure the outside night motion lamp for the front door was turned off, so mama could have a real dark night time. I turned into a bird nerd!

I peered through the blinds trying not to disturb nature taking its course as the eggs began to hatch. It was apparent that mama knew when we were watching her. I knew the day it turned into a birthday just from the massive amount of activity that day. Several different birds including another differently colored Cardinal, a wood pecker, squirrels, and the beautiful red male all began flying around the palm trees. It was is if nature came alive all of a sudden. A moment straight out of the Lion King! Nature knew that babies were being born that day. What a sight!

To see those ugly little cutie birds opening their beaks to get food was amazing. To watch mama leave and come back with food, then put it in their open beaks was an absolute gift to me. One that I didn’t even know I needed.

Honestly, when events happen in my life I tend to over analyze them and find a reason for them. Hmm, what am I supposed to learn from this? What is God saying to me? How can I apply this circumstance to my own life?
Really, it’s how I watch movies and listen to music too. How can I apply this to my life? Really, it’s overkill. Not sure how I can apply a navy fighter pilot training his subordinates how to fly into enemy territory and get back out alive, to my caregiver situation. I’m sure I must have got SOMETHING out of that movie.
I also love watching behind the scenes clips of movies and tv shows, bloopers, and what really happens when the cameras are off. I like the intricate workings of what makes people tick, what they do for a living, how do they spend their day, what is their life story, etc.

I still get made fun of by my husband and another couple because of a statement I made 30 years ago while driving through Anchorage, Alaska. The four of us little itty bitty 20 somethings crammed into the front cab of my husbands truck. I noticed out in the miles and miles of snow covered terrain, in between the trees, a lone moose. Staring at that moose as we drove by it, I blurted out, “I wonder what it’d be like to be a moose?” Probably not even realizing I had actually said it out loud, they all 3 started cracking up. I have never lived it down, and it comes back to bite me every few years. But, between you and me, I super duper meant it and still wonder to this day what it would be like to be a moose. Does it get lonely? How does it find food? Does it have friends? Ohhhh the agonizing depths of what’s inside my crazy noggin!

As I watched the birth of the birds unfold right in front of my face, I kept thinking that God had given me a gift. One that I had never been given in 53 years.

When it was all over and the birds had fallen out of the nest (Nope, surprisingly to me, they didn’t fly off. Each one of them just took turns and fell out) and hopped and sort of pretend flew away with mama and dad escorting them, I missed them. I missed the daily check ins I was doing. I missed watching them grab the food in the feeder I had put out for them. I missed the bird noise and talking they were doing. I missed the beauty of what I had witnessed.

As I was being super spiritual about the whole thing and trying to make some sense of why I got to witness this; like how God takes care of the birds of the air, so how much more will He take care of us -that sort of thing- I knew it was a swing and a miss. I just couldn’t reconcile that there was some big life lesson I needed to understand, but I didn’t know what it was.

So, what? What in the world was going on that I got to see nature at work so up close and personal? Something you would see on Nat Geo or Animal Planet or something? Then it hit me. And, I have already wrote the words up above at the beginning of this post.

God gave me a gift, I didn’t even know I needed.

It was a breath of fresh air. An exciting bird nerd sort of thing. No reason. Just because. Just because God wanted me to see His creation and what He is capable of doing without help from anyone.

I think some times God just wants to tell us to take a break. Step away from all the bad news of the day. Forget about the nasty “c” swear word and all the damage the powers that shouldn’t be did with it. Step away from the worries of daily life. Stop looking at the tv, stop looking at social media, stop thinking about what everything means, and just enjoy a sunny day where a bird is nesting and giving birth. Take your eyes off of the world, and focus on what’s in front of you.

What if God wants to give you a gift that you don’t even know you need? One that breathes new life into a tired body? Would you recognize it? Welcome it?

I love my two week hiatus from the world. It was the best gift ever. I trust you will experience a gift from God at some time when you need it too. I believe you will, if you are looking for it. It will be simple. Gifts are supposed to be simple, and special just for you. Look for that gift and see what God does.

I put together a quick video of my bird experience. There was sooooo much footage because as I said, I became a bird nerd. So this is the condensed version. Hopefully, you can enjoy just a peek into the days of bird birthing.