Hanging on by a thread......a thin brittle thread, the nest sways gently in the wind. Abandoned and worn, it's useless housing seems somehow to send a message of hope. How? How does something that once cupped fragile, naked, blind baby birds with their little beaks held wide open, desperately waiting to be filled......and now emptily bakes in the sun.....how does this send a message of hope? Well, for one who dwells a lot on what once was, this only sends messages of regret. I mean, think of how many hours that mama bird spent making that nest in preparation for her babies. Thousands of trips to the bank of the river for mud to build the foundation, and then thousands of more trips lining the nest with grasses and tiny branches......well that sounds exhausting to me! And then all that time keeping those eggs warm and safe until the hatchlings were free of their encasing and protection......what dedication! And the work doesn't stop there....thousands more trips back and forth to the nest are needed to find and feed food to the hungry little peeps, until they are big enough to fly from that place of refuge toward the next phase of life. That empty nest hanging from the tree has history!
For sentimental types, this maybe brings a little sadness to their heart. And I have to say, sometimes that's my reaction to such things. I say, " hey, let's fix that! Let's anchor that nest back up in the tree and put some soft pieces of grass in the bottom and wait for another mama to use it!" Isn't that the nature of sentimental people? We want things to be whole again....like they once were. We don't like change. We want to fix, and fix things for others. In fact, I get so caught up in the past that I miss what is happening right before my very eyes.
This morning as Scott and I sat in the campground with our coffee, I glanced up just in time to see a Robin flying toward a tree with long strands of dried grass trailing from her beak. I'm not sure I've ever seen that so closely before, but it caught my attention because of the grass flying through the air. She was making a new nest in the tree 30 feet from the hanging nest. That's when I got it.....I got the message! The old nest was a temporary home. It wasn't meant to be permanent, nor was it meant to be fixed. It served it's purpose for the time that was intended. Birds know these things! Apparently even my "bird brain" cannot accept such things as part of life!
Most likely, after those mamas pour out their efforts for a season of reproduction, their purpose is served and they die. Their purpose is to grow strong enough to reproduce and provide for the next generation......and then they are done with their life here on earth. What about us? Isn't this a temporary dwelling place for us to grow strong in so that we can pass along the treasures of truth and provide for those in need? Shouldn't we be more heavenly-minded, accepting the changes of life as part of our journey away from this temporary home?
We cling to our possessions here on earth like they
are our hope, but are reminded that because of Jesus sacrificial death on the Cross, so that we may be reconciled unto God, we have eternal life......only not here on this earth. This is our temporary home. Our bodies begin to waste away, and eventually we are like that swaying-in-the-wind empty nest.........done. We die. We begin the next phase of life in the presence of The Lord. That is, if we believe the treasures of the truth of Christ and accept it for our own life.
Since this life is temporary,
the message of hope is this: we don't have to FEAR the changes of life, we don't have to FIX the changes of life, and we don't have to FLEE from them. We only have to have FAITH, that the changes in life are are part of God's grand plan, and are moving us FORWARD toward our next phase of life. In the meantime, we FIND purpose in what is set before us and we make nests of refuge for others as we
share the message of hope of eternal life in Christ Jesus.
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.
2 Cor 4:16-17
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. John 14:1-3
