The egg was very small and speckled. It had fallen from a nest in the tree that partially shades the deck. I wondered if there was a way to save what had to be inside. Words from that old children’s book by Max Eastman, Are You My Mother? Came to mind, but that was a fairy tale for adults to read to children as words of assurance that mothers are always caring for their children, not the reality of the small brown speckled egg.
Clearing an area on the potting bench, I had the wild dream that mom would swoop down and pick up her egg. No such luck. This week as the other eggs were hatching, the tree branches were filled with a cacophony of sound. The egg was still on the bench. And then, yesterday morning, it was not.
Birds must build their nests very carefully and tightly into the crooks of branches. The storm last night had winds that bent over the branches, but this morning I did not see any scattered nests. Just amazing, utterly amazing. And their singing has just started.
Prayer for the Day
God of all surprises, you manifest yourself in so many ways,
For even in the darkest storms we feel your Presence;
Deepen our awareness of your Eternal Spirit,
Made known to us through the totality of your creation.
May we always be open to the wonders of the world
Revealing themselves when we least expect.
In the name of the One who walks with us,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
I pray to the birds because they remind me of what I love rather than what I fear. And at the end of my prayers, they teach me how to listen.
- Terry Tempest Williams, American writer, from Refuge
A goose flies by a chart the Royal Geographic Society could not improve.
- Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., American jurist (1841-1935)
You make springs gush forth in the valleys; they flow between the hills,
Giving drink to every wild animal; the wild asses quench their thirst.
By the streams the birds of the air have their habitation;
They sing among the branches.
From your lofty abode you water the mountains;
The earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work.
Psalm 104: 10-13