Flying Lessons with Fragile Hearts

Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she can have her young - a place near your altar, O Lord Almighty, my King and my God. Psalm 84:3

Most birds cannot fly until their muscle structure has had time to develop. In the meantime, the nest becomes their entire world. Baby birds are not responsible for food gathering or protection of the nest, so they generally develop a psychological dependence which must be overcome. Parent birds begin to teach their fledglings the importance of flying by remaining a short distance away from the nest during feeding. If the young birds are to survive, they must step away from the nest. Frequently, this means a few hard falls to the ground followed by a long trip back to the safety of the nest.

As my children venture out on their own I know their hearts are fragile. I pray and hope we have given them the examples to survive and start families of their own. The muscle structure of their trusting hearts still need time to develop. Our home became their entire world growing up. A place where everything they needed was provided. I can so relate to the paragraph above. It is amazing as I read this how ideal this would be for humans. I take pride in knowing that Chris and I tried to mirror this method with the Lord's help. When I was young everything was so uncertain. I felt I never had a safe nest. My parents were divorced when I was young and where we lived never felt like "home". Life was hard and somewhat unfriendly. When I graduated high school my mom urged me to leave. But not with the safety of the nest a short distance away. Not with a few hard falls to the ground and a trip back to the safety of the nest. Their was no nest to come back to! It was life or death out there. If I was a young bird I would have surely not survived. My mom claims that all this made me stronger. Stronger maybe, but very insecure, nontrusting, lack of self esteem, anxiety, obsessional thoughts and compulsiveness; all these neuroses was the cost. I am afraid to think what sort of mother I would have been if I had not had a relationship with Christ. I like to trust that my children know that our home is a safe place. Hopefully a place of rest and refreshment. Sometimes it will need to be a place to time out and to seek God's face. We have always encouraged the kids to venture out and express themselves. Short distances away with grandparents, with friends, youth group, school activities, learning to drive, getting part time jobs, honing their creativeness, talents, and passions - anything to be able to slowly learn to overcome their psychological dependence. Trying to teach them the importance of their independence.There have been a few hard falls to the ground but always trips back to the safety of home. Home where they can be themselves and to gain strength in their person.

All of this practice time, awkward as it may seem, does teach the fledgling about the mechanics of flight. Falls to the ground become more controlled as the young bird stretches out his or her wings. Short hops back to the nest become longer flights. Bird parents continue to encourage their brood to leave the nest for longer periods of time. Some species actually adopt a tough love policy, leaving the fledglings alone to develop their own flying instincts.

This seems to be how it is as our children develop learning skills, friendships, and the ability to reason through their school years. Learning the mechanics of living and trusting God. Their falls became more controlled or easier to handle as they stretched out their hearts, minds, and faith. Their disappointments, heartaches, and failures seemed to be handled by coming home to find that they are okay and lovable. This gave them more courage to continue to take new ventures. Having their own space was very helpful for them to develop the part of them that was different, their personalities.

After a few weeks of practice and imitation, young birds learn more advanced flying techniques - how to use the wind for lift, how to spot rising thermals and how to make controlled landings. Eventually, all of these elements become instinctive and young birds can start families of their own. The teaching process begins anew as these birds teach their own young how to fly.

Years of practice, prayer, and examples, our children are developing into confident adults with integrity, honesty, and good work ethics to name a few. Daring to handle their finances, how to act at the workplace, controlling their tempers and emotions. They are still learning and will always have the nest as a safe place to come to, gain strength and get advise. I trust all of this will be of worth as they start their own families.

For birds, flying is an incredibly taxing exercise. Some bird experts compare it to human jogging times ten. Fortunately, many birds have air sacs which act as auxiliary lungs. Each breath a bird takes is much more concentrated than an equivalent human breath. Birds also have very well-developed pectoral muscles for constant wing motion and an exceptionally strong heart for endurance. Hollow bones reduce drag and the natural curve of the wings creates significant lift. Most birds are literally swimming through the air, using the weight of the air beneath them to keep them aloft. (from wiseGEEK)

I pray my children will grow strong especially their hearts so they may have the endurance to fly like a bird.

Do you not know?

Have you not heard?

The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.

He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.

Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings like eagles; the will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. Isaiah 40:28-31

SWEET MAPLES

When I think of nests I think of trees. Trees hold nests and some are the nest like our large Maple Trees. We have these wonderful massive maples lined along our front side yard that reach to the hedgerow on the west. We see grackles, woodpeckers, Blue Jays, Black-Capped Chickadees, and nuthatches to name a few feeding from these maples and/or building nests in them. There are many large holes used as nests by these birds. When we moved in this house there were 8 of these monoliths. Over many years the trees had been tapped for sap to make delicious maple syrup. We had a neighbor who would tap these plus many others on ours and others' properties. We were grateful and delighted when he gave us a complimentary jug. As the years past he stopped tapping as his age, his mother's illness, and weather did not permit this hobby to continue consistently. He eventually sold his home and moved away. Not much longer after that we had the town cut down 3 of these monsters as they were dying and dropping large limbs often. Stumps are all that remain, however they do attract grass and weeds that periodically need a trim from the weed whacker. A storm that included strong winds would sway the remaining giants waking them from their slumber to toss limbs and bark at our yard and house. We would hold our breath praying that the two closest to our house would remain steady and toss their ammo away from us. Sometimes they would have javelin throwing contests. We would see the limbs standing up with the ends stuck in the soft ground.

This May a large Maple in the back decided to join in on this fun of limb tossing. However this large yet smaller maple (70 feet compared to the larger cousins of 80+ feet) was a little over zealous and tried to toss one of the largest limbs it had. Thus bending part of the chain link fence of the dog's pen and leaving a lot of wood to cut up and stack. Good for us with the supply of wood for our furnace but bad as this was a little time consuming and a bit back breaking as we weren't prepared to do this chore. Being that our sons are no longer readily available to help this posed some grumbling. We called the insurance company to alert them and see if we could get the fence fixed. But our deductible was too high so off to Lowe's to get replacement parts to mend it. We also asked the insurance company if they would consider paying for the removal of this tree as it was very close to the house and would be prone to more limb tossing. "...no we don't pay for preventative." So instead of paying a few hundred dollars they would opt to wait for the tree to do some damage and possibly pay up to several thousand and let's hope no one gets hurt. Brain Surgery! Well we cleaned up with the help of my brother from Australia and my husband's tenacious personality. No, my brother didn't fly all the way from down under just to help us. But during a planned visit he did roll up his sleeves and gave Chris a hand.

Well in July there was a sudden and brief storm that literally ripped through our property. I was so alarmed at the intensity and speed of the wind that came. I watched from my kitchen window as the 2 towering pines in the farther back yard bent and large massive limbs came barreling down landing in the field. I looked to my right and there was that Maple with it's largest limb or should I say half of the tree laying on the entire fenced pen and the dog house. The garage door window shattered and our metal roof banged up. I was so afraid to go and look out front. As I apprehensively looked out the front windows I was horrified to see a limb the size of a tree across the road. No one would be able to get by either way. Limbs were strewn all over. Trees fell in the woods also and across the tractor roads. In the words of my son Ethan, "Looks like someone was having tank practice." Leaves and limbs just littered the property.

Time to call the insurance company again. This time we were able to hire a crew to take down that maple plus the one looming towards the house out front. We had the guys cut them down and leave us the big logs for firewood. Chris and I are slowly getting those up and stacked for seasoning.

It is sad to see these extraordinary trees grow old (being well over 100 years old) and to fall so easily. They seem so majestic and steady but with old age they are weak and frail. These sweet maples have lived a good long life and served us well. Shade, leaves to rake into big piles for jumping in when the kids were little and a wonderful view when wanting to be quiet in the morning. Now we have plenty of firewood for our wood furnace for several years. We were not expecting such a supply so soon and that is how the Lord works. Knowing what we need and supplying it.

So the nest was not emptied here, the nest actually left. Next Spring we will not be seeing the birds nesting in the hollow cavities of this maple or hear the woodpeckers knocking for insects. But we know the Lord provides for all his creatures and they will move on to the next maple. The three trees after this one will eventually need to be removed as they are both dying and one is very hollow. The very last one is doing well and will probably last a few more years.

One thing I promise is that no matter how old I get or how far my children move away, the nest will always be here, in my heart.