Don’t be afraid to leave the nest

“But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not be weary; they will walk and not be faint.”

— Isaiah 43:31 (NIV)

My sister recently shared with me that she has a bird building a nest on her property. I enjoy watching the nature of a bird’s nest. One year we had one with three babies in it.

I have heard that the mother bird builds her nest in layers. The first layer is built with blunt, sharp, painful objects. This may include thorns, twigs and small pieces of glass. Who would have suspected this from a loving mother? She then disguises this layer with a second one built with soft, feathery objects. She may find old pieces of tissue, cloth or feathers to pad the nest for her young birds.

Resting on this protective padding, the baby’s first experience in the nest is one of comfort, where they are nourished and fed. But when the time comes for babies to get ready to venture out on their own, the mother starts to stir up the nest by removing some of the protective padding from the second layer.

When faced with sleeping on twigs, thorns and other sharp objects, the nest doesn’t feel like the soft, comfortable place it once was. In an effort to escape the discomfort, the young birds hop to the edge of the nest where they take a fall for their first flying lesson.

The young ones don’t fall too far, however, until the mama comes and swoops them up on her wings and carries them back to a place of safety until it’s time for their next attempt to fly. If it weren’t for the mother bird stirring up her nest, these babies may never spread their wings and take to flight.

We all have a special nesting place where we are comfortable. It may be a place of physical, emotional or financial comfort. Then there comes a point in time when something occurs and we don’t feel quite so comfortable there anymore.

When this happens, it may be God stirring up our nest to let us know it’s time to leave that nesting place and spread our wings to fly into a new adventure in life; something better for us, that we might have never tried had we not been forced to leave our comfort zone.

• Annettee Budzban is a Christian author, speaker, life coach and nurse. She can be contacted at annetteebudzban@aol.com or (847) 543-8413.