Nesting Cardinals

A pair of cardinals have had it set in their minds to nest and raise their babies in a dogwood tree outside of my window. They attempted this feat last year at the same time. I watched them build their nest in what seemed to be record time. It amazes me each nest I see built how they can do this without any tools or fingers for that matter! Each day I watched as that momma cardinal sat on her eggs. One night the wind blew and the rain poured on her. The dogwood...virtually a baby itself bowed in the wind and I watched worried that their work would be in vain. The storm ended after many hours of trying times and the nest made it. Days later, the baby hatched. I left for Florida to celebrate my mom's birthday July 16th. While I was gone, my husband sadly reported that the lone surviving baby fell from the nest and although he tried everything he could to help that baby bird, it didn't make it. I was so sad for the cardinal pair. They never returned to the nest and through the 4 seasons, the nest slowly disappeared from the dogwoog one stick at a time until there was no trace that a family had tried to grow there.

Until this July. As I sat at the computer one day I saw the cardinal pair. They were back and once again, stick by stick they began building their nest. The same spot. The same branches. The same time. I was so eager to watch them build, lay, and hatch the babies. Once again, I traveled to celebrate a birthday but this time it was Grammy's 90th in Kansas. Although this may sound strange, part of me was worried about leaving again because of that bird's nest! We were gone for 5 days and once we arrived home, I went back to the window to see what was in the nest. There they were. Tiny and delicate. 3 baby birds and the 2 doting parents. So far so good. It has been almost a week and a half since the babies hatched. They are much bigger. They seem to be developing well. I keep a watchful eye on them making sure I see the parents giving all 3 of them food. I have concerns that one or more will be pushed out or fall out of the nest but of course nature is its own authority.

I can't help but be in awe of this cardinal couple. After what would seem to me as a devastating mating season last year, they were at it again. Yes, this is instinct but it made me think about the human instinct to mother and love. I have lately been comparing many things to orphaned children as well as adoption. I imagine that some of those mothers who leave their newborns at the hospitals in Russia and the Ukraine (and everywhere else for that matter) may be like cardinals. They may have the instincts to parent but through no fault of their own, finances, addictions, or heavy winds and rain, their babies fall from the nest. It is up to us, the onlookers, the ones with strengths they don't have to pick up these babies and help. Sure, we may not succeed with all of them, but what is the harm in trying? Perhaps we have the ability to help in ways we don't even know.

Just maybe, that cardinal knew to build its nest in the dogwood outside my window. Maybe it knew somehow I would be able to once again watch over it. To intervene in the face of danger or trouble. And just perhaps, it is God that has shined a light in my eyes. Has built a nest in a window that I can now see full of children in a far away place that need nothing more than to be swooped up and cared for. The question I have is where do I begin. Where is my dogwood tree? And when will the child who falls from his nest need me to scoop him up and love him forever?