I have a fascination with birds. A few years ago, for Christmas my family helped support my fascination by gifting me with backyard feeders, a birdbath, binoculars, bird books, and seed. My wonderful hubby placed them in our back yard and occasionally adjusts them at my request. As I think about it now, he is also the one that feeds them most often. He loves me enough to let me simply enjoy them.

Why do I love birds? My mom developed a fascination with birds when I was in my teens. She also loved her flowers and a pretty yard. I began helping her identify some of the regular feathered visitors and it just grew. Her favorite was always the cardinal and to this day they make me think of her. I will admit it did diminish quite a bit for many years, but as I have gotten older and slowed my pace down, my fascination began to awaken.

Watching birds in their natural habitat brings me closer to God. I see the beauty God created in them and also the nature that surrounds them. I ponder the ways God intricately designed them to live within the world. I love listening to the birds sing to me in the morning and the way the blue jays squawk when they have no more peanuts.

We have a nest in front that a momma robin builds every spring. We watch as she keeps her babies warm and fed. Soon she is teaching them to fly and leave the nest. It’s funny. There is always one that dawdles. He is quite comfy in the nest, and it takes him another day or 2, then he finally goes out on his own. The past few years there has always been 2 sets of babies born in that nest each summer.

Thinking about how the last baby dawdles leaving the nest, I have to wonder how many times in my life I have dawdled when God has asked me to do something. Yes, God uses the birds to teach me life lessons on occasion. Today I am asking God to show me where I am dawdling and to give me the confidence to step out of the nest and fly. Your challenge is to consider where you may be dawdling in life.

Blessings,

Kathryn