Bird's Nest
My two white Rose of Sharon bushes by my deck had grown too tall and wild and I decided to cut them both down. I was on my second bush when I saw a bird's nest perched between the branches. I did not expect to see one there, but there it was and I could not help but marvel at that beautiful construction made of small twigs by a small bird to lay its eggs in and hatch them. I thought it was a well-designed architectural piece, with those small twigs gathered from plants and bushes in the yard and fashioned to form a beautiful temporary home for its young.
I did not see any eggs nor birdlings, nor birds there. Probably the eggs had hatched and the young had already flown away to seek and find their lives.
It occurred to me that we humans are in some ways like birds. We work to build a home for our families . . . for our children to stay in until they are ready to go on their own and build their own homes. But in God's scheme of things, we all eventually must leave our homes we took a lot of effort to build and fly away to where we must dwell more permanently till the end of time.
In St. Paul's second letter to the Christians, he reminds us that "if our earthly dwelling, a tent, should be destroyed, we have a building from God, a dwelling not made with hands, eternal in heaven." 2 Cor 5:1.
Just like the birds building their nests on branches of trees and then leaving them for other places, we all will leave our present dwelling places for what is poetically called "the great beyond." And hopefully we have adequately prepared to dwell in that "great beyond" where He Who placed us in our earthly home will give us a permanent home, there to dwell with Him in glory and joy forever."
"One thing I ask of the Lord; this I seek: To dwell in the Lord’s house all the days of my life, To gaze on the Lord’s beauty . . . " Psalm 27:4
