The Circle Of Life

We've lived in our "new house" for over 6 months now. My kids have seen the seasons changing and what that means. And for the first time, they are getting it. They are seeing life change around them. This spring, the boys were walking around the yard with Daddy. Oldest boy gets really excited and starts pointing into one of the trees. "Daddy, daddy, there's a nest in the tree!" Sure enough, a couple of robins had decided to build their nest in the crook of one of our trees. They watched it for a few weeks and then, miracle!

There were eggs in that nest. The mommy bird sat on the nest and sat on the nest and then sat some more. When Grandpa came to till under all the weeds in the yard, the boys worried that the mommy bird wouldn't come back to her nest. But she did. Then, after a little while, there was this:

The eggs hatched! And made little birds! And they were ugly cute. The boys were so excited. They wanted to go out and look at the babies, but mommy bird was very protective of her little birds. She wouldn't get up to show them off.

A few mornings ago, Hubby looked out the window and said, "OH NO!" Everyone ran to the window and looked out, just in time for a hawk to jump out of the nest. Poor mommy and daddy robin flew around in obvious distress as two of their little chicks disappeared forever. Hubby went out to look at the nest and there was one sad, lonely little chick. The hawk came back later and finished what he had started.

You may wonder why I'm telling you this story. It could have been some sort of attempt to talk about the futility of things or how it feels to be critiqued or some such rot. But I actually wanted to share something positive with you.

First, not everything works out the way we plan. But. We don't give up! I really admired the parents in this situation. They were much smaller and less ferocious. Did this stop them? No. They flew around trying to distract the hawk. They did everything in their power to make things turn out well. That didn't mean they were successful, but they didn't give up. Mommy bird even came back after her other babies were gone to help that last little chick.

Second, sometimes, all you can do is not enough. And here's the really hard, but important thing. Yes, those robins lost their chicks. They will probably desert the nest and go somewhere else, but they will build another nest and lay more eggs. They will start over again. It is built into them to just keep trying until it does work out.

All of us are going to have times when it seems like we aren't good enough, we haven't done enough, and fate is conspiring against us. Be a robin. Fight as hard as you can to pull through, make a change and make it work. If, after you have done your very best, you still can't get what you want, start again. Rebuild. Don't ever give up.

*Edit--This post had pictures, but wouldn't publish properly, so I have taken them out to see if that was the problem.