Easter Eggs

We love birds! Since we have no pets to bother them, many birds have come to live in the forest around our Monastery. We really enjoy watching them and listening to their beautiful songs (except when they keep us up at night!). We put out bird seed and hummingbird nectar at the appropriate seasons. However, sometimes they can be a little troublesome…especially to our Sister Sacristan, who has been cultivating some flowers in pots for the Easter chapel decorations. Some birds think these flower pots would make fine places for a nest! So she has been carefully removing the nests (they didn\’t have eggs yet) as a gentle suggestion to the birds to build nests elsewhere. Some of the birds took her advice to heart! One day, when Sister went into the garage to get the watering can, she found a surprise…

Was it just a random collection of pine needles and branches? No, it was a nest!! 

And there are (as you see) several eggs in it! Our own monastic version of an egg hunt (only we didn\’t take anything but a picture!). 

We showed Sister several pictures of birds that frequent the Monastery…when she saw the House Wren, she exclaimed, \”Yes, those are the birds!\”  

We couldn\’t help but wonder at the ingenuity of the little birds…and their persistence. Isn\’t it true that sometimes we arrange our own little \”nests\” in what seems to be a perfect spot, only to have God come along and clear it out? Instead of sitting around bemoaning their lost nest, the birds simply went looking for another place to build. In the same way, perhaps we should listen to God when he encourages us to \”build a nest\” somewhere else. The most unexpected place may be the best location for new life!