It was early spring when she came into my life. The days first sunbeams were peeking over the horizon.  A heavy dew covered the short brown grass in the backyard.  Yet, there she was, hopping all over the yard looking for her morning breakfast.

She was not much to look at, quite ordinary really.  Her frame was small, with mousey gray plumage covering her back with a patch of orange/red on her chest.  “Must be a Robin,” I thought to myself as I watched her through the kitchen window.

Before long Ms. Robin found her prey.  Hungrily, she slurped the worm she found like a kid sucking down spaghetti noodles.  I chuckled to myself as I observed her.  I did not give much more thought to her the rest of the day.

The next morning, as I wandered sleepily into the kitchen, there she was again, hopscotching across the yard.  I watched her as I ate my morning breakfast.  Soon Ms. Robin was successful once again, happily eating her morning meal.

Each morning over the next several weeks, Ms. Robin became a part of my daily routine.  Day after day, week after week there she was, and she never missed a morning.

One day I noticed that she was becoming very large.  I laughed to myself, “You silly bird, you have made yourself quite fat! Soon you won’t be able to fly!”

The large maple tree in the center of our backyard had begun to wake up from its winter sleep. The leaves were growing larger and greener every day.  Dawn was also coming earlier with each passing day.

One morning I noticed that Ms. Robin had broken her routine.  She was not looking for worms.  She was hopping around with a small twig in her beak.    She flew into the tree finding a branch that had the right qualities for balancing that twig she brought.  Over the course of the day, Ms. Robin flew into the tree with various twigs, stems, long blades of grass, string, whatever she could find to work with, her nest began to take shape.  As she finished, she lined the nest with feathers she plucked from her own plumage.  Once the nest was to her liking, Ms. Robin snuggled down into her new home.

From then on, most mornings I still saw her hopping around the lawn hunting for worms.  Some mornings I would find her sitting on her nest like a “perky century guard” overlooking the yard with an ever-watchful eye.

She was beginning to spend more and more time in her nest.  One day while she was out on “neighborhood patrol” I climbed up into the tree to take a quick look at her nest.

As I peered into the nest, I noticed 3 small blueish eggs.  I quickly climbed down because I knew Ms. Robin would soon be back.  No sooner had my feet hit the ground than she came gliding over the backyard fence landing softly on her nest. She quickly snuggled down on top of her eggs.

Sometimes the spring days were still a bit frosty leaving a chill that hung I the air until afternoon. Some days brought driving rain along with howling winds that shook the tree as the storm ran its course.  No matter the weather, Ms. Robin sat in that nest, sheltering, and caring for those eggs. Day after day she sat faithfully.

The days were growing much warmer now and one bright morning there was loud tremendous twittering and cheeping coming from the maple tree and Ms. Robin was dancing all up and down her nest branch.  Small, tiny, ugly heads with huge gaping beaks could be seen bobbing up and down in the nest!

Ms. Robin jumped onto the grass and with the precision of a surgeon she quickly plucked a worm from the ground and flew up to the nest to the hungry mouths awaiting breakfast.  She made trip after trip and before long the commotion died down as the little bellies were filled, making the fledglings sleepy.

For the next several days there was plenty of activity each morning which quickly died down once mealtime was underway.

Late one afternoon there was an unusual amount of noise coming from the backyard.  Thinking the neighborhood cat was up to no good, I went to the window to see what was going on.

There I found Ms. Robin sitting on the fence on the opposite side of the yard loudly squawking and flapping her wings frantically.  I wondered why she was all riled up!

Then I glanced up in the tree and saw one of the baby birds standing on the edge of the nest stretching and flapping his wings.  It was a flying lesson!  And there was momma bird flapping and chirping her encouragement to the little one.

Soon the suspense was over as the baby bird spread his wings and dove headfirst toward the grass!  Just at the last second, he pulled out of the dive and flapped his wings quickly gaining altitude then clumsily landing on the fence next to his proud momma.

Both had a chirp fest as they came together, with the siblings also joining in the cacophony of noise and excitement from the safety of the nest.  Then, all became quiet for a few moments as the next baby bird took the stage ready to try her flying skills.  One by one they flew from the nest to the fence and back, for the rest of the day.

As the summer continued the Robin Family lived in the tree and entertained us with their songs and antics.  It was fun watching them as they grew.  Before long, summer gave way to fall as the days grew shorter and colder.  The big maple tree lost its leaves and we hardly saw Ms. Robin or her family at all.

One day I noticed that I had did not see them any longer.  Weeks went by.  The snow flew and the winds blew all through the long winter.  Then one dark damp cold spring morning I heard a familiar chirping in the back yard.  There she was again; Ms. Robin had come to set up house once again this year!

“Nice to see you Ms. Robin,” I called out to her.  “Hello old friend,” she chirped back!  Things had come full circle.  She flew south for warmer winter weather and had returned to her summer home.

As I contemplated the experience I had with the Robin Family, I thought about how my life had been throughout the past year.  I had gotten so wrapped up in myself and had days of stress and worry.  Wondering what was going to happen to me when I lost a great job and then found an even better one.  Family issues, financial struggles between jobs, the passing of dear friends and loved ones, weddings, and births of new babies.

Yet each day my family went to bed with a full belly, in a warm safe home.  I thought about the Robin Family and how God had taken care of them in their daily lives and journeys. Cold weather, rain, and sweltering heat, they didn’t seem to have a care in the world as all their needs were fulfilled. It made me realize that if God takes care of the silly birds, his love for me is much, much more and I need to not forget that.

“Look at the birds of the air. For they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father cares for them.  Are you of not of more value than they?”  Matthew 6:26