Tiny Beginnings from My Attic
A few weeks ago, as I was sitting on the couch, de-stressing from a long day, I started to hear a light scratching in the ceiling - like the paws of a tiny animal scurrying around in the attic... I don't know how you would react to such noises, but the thought of tiny paws burrowing down in above my couch scare ME to death! I don't think they are cute at all...because in my vivid imagination, these tiny paws are usually attached to a foaming, screeching, rabies-infested... something. And that "something" is never cute in my mind!
One hour and many screams from the top of the table later, my husband valiantly caught the unwelcome visitor and to my surprise opened his cupped hands to reveal a tiny black bird. It cheeped wildly and struggled to be free, obviously as frightened of us as I was of it. My merciful, and decidedly better half in this instance, set the poor thing free and we all stepped outside to watch it fly away.... into a small hole along the roofing tiles of our home. The little guy went right back into our house!
It took us a few days to realize what was going on, as we never heard his little feet scratching about in our attic again... but one morning, a few days ago, I heard a high pitched squeaking over my head as I brushed my teeth.
Toothbrush tucked into my cheek, I turned off the water, hushed my happily singing hubby, and let my ear lead me to the source.... a spot in our bathroom that was right under that small hole along our roofing line. That's when it hit me and suddenly our little ravenous, rabies-infested intruder became something else entirely in my mind: a parent.
This tiny black bird had little chicks nesting inside that crevice under our roofing tiles.
Now, every morning, before the sun comes up, we are awakened by that chirping - the sounds of greedy, hungry new life... coming from the most unlikely of places! And I smile. Before my eyes open or I turn to kiss my love, I smile because in spite of my desire to be rid of a nuisance, a perceived danger, LIFE had found a way to quietly begin and then persistently, and sometimes loudly, grow.
It reminds me that life can begin in the most unlikely of places; that new beginnings are often mistaken for dangers and intruders in our already arranged and planned out existence. If we are not careful, we will seek out the nuisance and unwittingly cut it out of our way, never recognizing that even great change, great achievement, starts out small and yes, sometimes, right over our heads, in the most unlikely of places.
HOPE and DESTINY is like that tiny black bird - we may throw it out, but it finds a way back in, not easily extinguished by our fears and anger. Thank God for that! What good news to you and I: God's mercies are NEW EVERY MORNING! So even if in your loss or grief or fear, you have thrown away a new beginning... it's not too late, God's will for you finds a way.
Defend change in your life, don't run from it - embrace it. The death of one dream usually marks the beginning of another - if you hadn't lost that job, you never would have branched out to start your own business; if you hadn't been forced to move and pull up your roots, you might never have met your spouse or had your amazing children; if you hadn't experienced the grief of loss, you never would have written that book or gotten that degree... the list goes on.
When something that you imagine to be too difficult, too unlikely, too annoying, too impossible presents itself to you this next time, make yourself a promise: instead of saying no, sit and listen for it. Instead of running from it, go after it... you never know but that something new and great may be just around the corner for you. New beginnings are in every sorrowful ending, but they are tiny and hungry... in the midst of your endings, listen for them, and if you are too grieved, too overwhelmed to nurture them now, it's ok, because one morning, when you least expect it, right over your head, it will find you... just try not to freak out and throw it out of the house like I did :)
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