Swat Them Away
My Peloton bike faces three giant windows. I situated the bike this way on purpose. Nature is my thing. It re-centers me and redirects my focus. I overlook our backyard: the pool, the fire pit, the rocking chairs, and a giant Crepe Myrtle. Today, as I rode, I noticed a little bird cowering by our fence.
As I watched the bird, I realized it was one of the babies out of the nest that is in the Crepe Myrtle. Every time we’ve swam the past few weeks, we’ve checked on mama bird and looked for babies. This weekend we noticed some new additions to the nest. I quickly realized today was the first day of flight school for the baby Doves.
I lost focus of the baby bird because I got distracted. There was a family of Finches sputtering about around the Crepe Myrtle and the baby bird. Anytime one of the Finches got near the baby, mama bird would swoop in and swat them away. She’s big and was not messing around.
I watched over and over again as that mama bird flew in and knocked those Finches away from her precious baby. She was relentless. It was exquisite to watch. And, I’m not gonna lie, it helped get my mind off of what I was actually doing.
But, do you know what was the most interesting thing about this whole scenario? The baby bird had no idea what its mama was doing. He was so focused on learning to fly, so terrorized and scared of his new environment, that he couldn’t see how his mama was protecting him. All he had to do was fly. She did the rest.
Hmmmmm….
That sounds a lot like us. Am I right?
As I watched her, it made me think of my own kids. We recently had to deal with a mistake one of our boys made. It was one of a million and I was exhausted. I told my husband that I was done parenting. Like, for good. For forever. Because, as I watched that mama bird swat those Finches away time-after-time, I felt like I was watching me parent.
We are all that mama bird. We are constantly swatting the bad things away from our kids. We are their first line of defense and you better believe us mamas are unstoppable when protecting our babies. We are persistent in our swatting and our kids don’t even know. They are oblivious to the continuous movement of motherhood.
Swat.
Swat.
Swat.
As I watched her and thought of my own parenting, I realized this must be how God feels. Constantly swatting the junk away from our lives. And we don’t even realize it.
Ironically, a couple of days before this mama bird encounter, I read a quote from John Piper on a friend’s Facebook page. The quote read,
“The Sovereign Lord has spared you ten thousand more losses than He has sent you. Let every moment be a thousand thanks.”
And don’t even get me started on the fact that the mama bird was a dove. It took me a second for that to process, but when it hit me that the bird I was watching was a dove, it pierced my soul.
God is always showing Himself to us. We just have to be open to see.
A couple of days ago, He allowed me to see this quote. A few days later, I experienced a challenge with a kid swatting the bad stuff away. Today, while being pushed and challenged past my limits in a workout, God reaches out to me through the one thing that connects me most to Him (nature) through a dove. And not just any dove. A mama dove in action reminding me that while I am overwhelmed and exhausted trying to swat all the bad away from my kids, God is doing the same for me. And for you.
What do you need to swat away today? You already have the power inside you. God is swatting away for you. What do you need to swat away for Him?
Love & Blessing,
Meg