My daughter and her friend find a new robin’s nest by the house. The robin sits there, staring at us peacefully. She makes no alert calls.
“Maybe she’s laying an egg,” we reason.
We return an hour later to find the robin away from her nest. She’s left her first egg unattended without her incubating warmth.
Oh, no! How terrible!
But what looks unwise actually represents something so wonderful.
I learn that the robin must leave the nest to “cool” her new egg to suspend growth until she’s formed a full clutch of eggs. Then, she stays on her nest full time so every bird hatches together.
How smart! How aware of timing!
I think of growth in human communities and families and how, maybe, God slows some down so we all catch up and hatch into new things together. When some new initiative feels cooled down or suspended, I remember the robin and the perfect timing of hatching all together.