The Nest We Build

The Nest We Build

Sometime last spring I noticed right out side of my bedroom window a bird’s nest secretly hidden deep within the branches of the tree that keep my neighbors from peeking into my condo.

Every morning, almost ritual like, I would open my curtains, then the blinds and peer through the window so carefully in hopes of seeing some baby birds reaching their little necks skyward awaiting the breakfast their mother had brought them.

But alas, I never saw a baby bird, nor even the mother. In time, I realized that the perfectly formed nest, which to me was nothing less then a work of precious art, was indeed – abandoned. Prime Real Estate for sure.

Still every morning I would rise and peek out my window in hopes of seeing something. A new tenant moving in, maybe just a “For Rent” sign. Anything would have been nice.

However the perfect nest that looked so warm and safe that I myself wouldn’t have minded climbing the tall tree and crawling into the nest for a mid-days nap, (if only I were three inches tall) sat there unused, unvisited, apparently unwanted.

Fall would come. Soon winter appeared. Storms came and went just as they do in our lives. The seasons change ya know. I don’t know why they do, they just do. No birds ever appeared and it wasn’t long before the nest was no longer the beautiful work of art it once was.

Still every morning curious a child filled with hope on Christmas morning, I can’t help but peer out my window and watch the process unfold, helpless as can be. Held back by the window high above the ground of my own place called home.

Now… just a tattered version of it’s former self. The wind, the rain and even a little snow through out the year – had taken it’s toll. All that was left, were a few straws from the base of the nest in the fork of the branches that someone at one time had called their home. It wasn’t long before the day would come when the final straw had left the nest and all but disappeared.

Then, this very morning… as usual, I opened the curtains and then my blinds and peered into the tree as I always do and THERE I could see it!

OH WHAT GLORY!

What to my amazement had appeared?

As if by a miracle of life were unfolding yet once more, a few new straws, perfectly placed in the same forked branches that for so long had sat bare. Ingeniously crafted by a master at work, still as yet unknown to me, she weaves the place she will someday call her own.

A new nest is being built. But why at this time of year? Soon, winter will be here once again. I just couldn’t imagine.

It made me think, slow down and even ponder for a few. Everything has a season. Everything has a time and a place, a rhyme and reason. You see, nature cleared the way for something new to be born.

It’s the way it has to be.

Without the end, there can be no beginning. There are no exceptions. Each process unfolds yet a new path for us to follow. Everything comes and goes. People, ideas, jobs, and even relationships. Business or personal. It doesn’t matter.

There are no exceptions.

The nest we build is uniquely our own. However, the wheels of this world turn with amazing glory to reveal the next path for us to follow. If only we take the time to ponder.

All this I learned from watching a nest, with an open heart and mind and the hope each day of seeing something new.

When the time was right, when the old had been cleared away, the space in life had been revealed for the new to begin yet again.

I’ve learned so much from watching that simple nest out side my window. Who knew? I guess you could say that a little bird taught me a lesson in life that clearly I needed to know.