Looking Up

            I would have missed it had I not looked up.

            I had taken the four hour trip to Natchitoches for my daughter Lauren to see the house where her favorite movie was filmed. My sister-in-law Vicki met us there and we watched Lauren walk the grounds of the Steel Magnolia Bed and Breakfast, video the rooms, and nap on the edge of the pool before we decided to test out the swing and rockers on the front porch. And that’s when, in mid conversation, a substantial bird’s nest caught my eye.

            It was high up on a beam under the protection of the porch. A cool, shaded spot in the middle of a still hot Fall day. A dry place if the clouds decided to release their rain. A safe, well-built haven tucked in a quiet spot of a house that over the years has welcomed nineteenth century businessmen, family, friends, doctors, nurses, wounded soldiers, and even Hollywood stars who descended upon the oldest town in Louisiana to bring Robert Harling’s play, Steel Magnolias, to the screen.

            While there is little for me to relate to in that beautiful Southern Bed and Breakfast, I could instantly identify with the bird in the nest on the porch. From now on, whenever I read Psalm 84:3,4, I will think  of that moment when I looked up and saw it.  “Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young - a place near your altar, O Lord Almighty my King and my God. Blessed are those who dwell in your house; they are ever praising you.” Psalm 84:3,4.

            Like the sparrow, I seek a place to land. An escape from the heat of a trial, chill of a loss, a drought or flood of emotions. I need a place of safety to sort through the things life sometimes throws at me, a refuge, a quiet spot to let healing begin. I need a nesting place and I have found it in my early morning quiet moments before God.

I would have missed it had I not looked up to Him.