Lessons from a Nest

Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord! ~ Psalm 27:14

She chose an old, abandoned nest under our eaves. Carefully she spent her efforts rebuilding and strengthening it. And now, she is perched on her little twig throne. Sometimes I glimpse her sharp, inquisitive eyes just over the edge of the nest. And so, she waits.

She is committed to these little eggs – through bad weather, through long days, and even into the frenzy of blind, helpless baby birds who still depend on her for their very survival. She waits, by nature doing simply what God has made her to do.

I watch her with admiration, wondering at her tenacity and patience of spirit. Would that I be so steadfast and patient in the waiting that the Lord gives me!

Perhaps it is hard to admit that waiting on the Lord is difficult. It stretches our hearts and souls to learn to yield our illusion of control. We often find waiting to be agonizing, perhaps because it feels as if I’m not “doing” anything. We are people of action! We want to work, to try, and to accomplish.

But perhaps that is the very point. I’m not working out the solution but God is. Perhaps in all my striving, I lose the ability to learn to trust and allow Him room to work. And just as God is trustworthy in the balance of seasons in a little bird’s life, so He is faithful in our seasons of waiting. We can trust all the unknowns, all the long hours, all the invisible working of the heart to Him.

Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful. ~ James 5:11

The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. ~ Lamentations 3:25

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. ~ Proverbs 3:5-6