Abandoned Nest

 

"Blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear."

―Matthew 13:16, NIV 

 

In December of 2010, my sister and I placed our ninety-one year old mother in a nursing home. Anyone, who has walked this path, knows the emotional toll it takes upon a family. God, in his grace, used my love for photography as a diversion from the events that were beginning to unfold. My frequent thirty-minute drives to and from the facility became occasions for me to collaborate with the Lord as to my next daily photo and blog post.

Twenty-two days after my mother entered the facility, I noticed an abandoned nest in an adjacent wooded lot. As I focused my camera's lens on its poignant beauty, God quietly spoke to me of another “abandoned nest”―one whose tenant would never return.

I will always cherish my encounter and the bittersweet token of beauty God tenderly placed on my difficult path that day, simply to say . . . “I am here.” 

After a nine month stay, my mother left the facility for her eternal nesting place. That was two years ago today. I miss her daily.