lessons from a mother dove

Do you believe in signs?  I do.  i have been seeing birds.  these big, beautiful, bright, birds everywhere as of late.  i have been seeing them fly outside our treehouse out of the corner of our neighbor’s flat.  i’ve seen them making nests on the side of our home in the cool shade as the summer sun heats up the sky overhead.  also, they have been flying through the park, landing rather deliberately in front of me as i take my morning walk with the kids.  i feel like they are trying to tell me something.  it may seem silly, but i am listening to them.

i am watching this grey mother dove take flight to the trees near our alley to grab sticks and twigs to bring back to her home on the brick overhang in our windowsill in the living room.  i am watching her patience.  her steadfast determination when sometimes those twigs she has so lovingly gathered take a tumble and fall three stories down.  down.  down.

little does she know, she is teaching me grace as she pauses and goes to retrieve those fallen branches.  because some of our branches may fall from time to time.  sometimes we work so hard to build a nest, only to have parts of it crumble right before our eyes.  let us be like this mother dove.  let us take a deep breath and go collect them.

*photo taken by my sweet stella.