Nothing is Impossible

It’s been kind of rainy and stormy around here lately. A bit scary, actually…but in the middle of these dark, gloomy, thunderous and wet days, a great story unfolded at our house…or at least I think so.

As it happens, an amazing Robin built her nest right on our front door wreath just like 3 weeks ago. Ever since, she has been diligently taking care of the three gorgeous tiny blue eggs she laid. Of course, we have been enraptured by the occurrence from the minute we discovered the nest, especially our younger son Dylan. He has been quite excited about the whole thing, and when the first egg hatched, he was beside himself. He couldn’t believe life actually came out of those eggs. I think he secretly thought they were plastic…or candy??? Of course we’ve been breaking our backs lifting him because he is not tall enough to see inside the nest…I’m too old for this…

At any rate, the thing is we have all been enjoying the miracle of the bird nest and marveling at God’s designs for nature…wondering what made Him decide to color those eggs such pretty shade of blue???

The second egg hatched a few days later and we kept watch for that third egg. Then it hit!

It was Friday afternoon. I had decided to let the closest pizza place do the cooking for dinner that evening. It is literally around the corner, so I ordered it for pick up. At the appointed time, I went to get it and of course it wasn’t ready so I had to wait. As I waited, I could see the dark clouds approaching at a healthy speed. I knew the pizza was going to get wet…as well as my hair…sigh… Through the glass window of the small pizza place I could see the wind. It was beating the trees with such ferocity I began to worry about the shingles peeling off the roof above my head.

Anyway, after what seemed like an eternity I was able to start my way back home…and even though the nest did cross my mind for a fleeting moment, I kind of brushed the thought aside as I tried to concentrate on the road in front of me while grumbling about my now very wet hair. The minute I walked in the house, Dan and the boys announced that the wind had, indeed, blown away the wreath. It felt like a needle had poked my heart. Dan pointed out the mama Robin standing on the railing outside the front door…my heart broke…the baby chicks were gone and she had no clue where they could be…and neither did we.

We looked out all the front windows and we could not see the wreath anywhere. Dylan wanted to go outside to find it and we didn’t let him. We told him we had to wait for the storm to pass. He was very restless…he wanted to do something, and felt helpless. We told him we needed to wait and decided to eat our pizza. Dylan didn’t eat much, and as soon as he was done he left the kitchen. Soon after, he came back running and saying, “I saw it! The wreath! I saw it! Come see it, let me show you where it is!” We kind of hushed him and told him to calm down. We would go outside later and try to find it, but he persisted until he made Dan grab an umbrella to go out.

The rain had subsided to a gentle drizzle by then, but Dylan and I stayed in the house, watching out the window. Dylan kept his hopes up saying stuff like they may be still OK while I kept saying to him that it was not likely…however, he insisted, “but they might!” and I insisted even more, “no, Dylan, those birds have no chance to survive…it is impossible!” I made that stern pronouncement because I didn’t want him to get hurt…to me the birds were long dead and now all we had left was a wreath with the beautiful addition of a real nest as decoration. But Dylan replied very firmly, “Nothing is impossible!”

I have to tell you, his words felt a bit like a slap on the face…

It was like I’d just woke up, so I began to say, “you are right, Dylan, nothing is impossible for God”…but as I was formulating the words in my mouth, Dan was at the door frantically asking for gloves. I looked at him and he said, “they’re alive! Get me some gloves!”

“WHAT!!???”

I remembered the box of gloves I had in one of the kitchen cabinets and as best as I could I handed him two. He struggled putting them on, still hanging on to the umbrella, as Dylan and I stood glued to the window. We watched Dan grab the wreath, pick something up from the ground…then walk to the bushes and scoop something out of them…I couldn’t believe it…

After he hung the wreath back on the door, Dan came in and told us how he saw the one baby on the ground first and it looked dead…but as he looked closer, it seemed like it moved…he wasn’t sure, but he put it on the nest anyway just in case. The other one was breathing…or so it seemed…as he related the story we waited by the window to see if mama bird would come back…and she did!

“What a miracle!” we proclaimed. “I told you nothing is impossible!” Dylan said knowingly…

In the evening, I did pray for at least one bird to survive for Dylan’s sake…I thought this would be such a great moment for him. His perseverance had moved us to action and he had seen, first hand, what it meant to be the eyes, hands and feet of God…but the birds may not survive…Dan was not sure about the one that was breathing and the other one he thought for sure was dead… “it looked like dead chicken…” He said…

Saturday morning came and first thing Dan said to me was, “the two birds are alive!”

Praise the Lord! Of course Dylan was ecstatic and we had to lift him a few times during the day so he could see them and make sure they were still OK. The third egg has not been found yet, but the two baby chicks seem to be developing well so far…I still can’t believe it, and Dylan still keeps proudly saying: “I told you nothing was impossible!”

Raging winds, torrential rain, thunder and darkness that is only pierced by lightening are very scary, no doubt…and I rather have constant sunshine and blue skies spreading wide from where I stand to as far as my eyes can see…but this kind of miracle usually only happens in the midst of the storm.

For nothing will be impossible with God. ~ Luke 1:37