I love birds’ nests.  I found one over Thanksgiving and you could see the little bits of dog hair, grass, building insulation, a piece of string all woven through the nest.  It wasn’t round but looked like the net of a lacrosse stick.  I was struck by how well constructed it was that it could fall out of the tree unscathed.  It was all held together by mud.  But, geez, it looked like clean mud to me.   So it is with my spiritual home.--the one that resides in my heart.  I have woven together experiences that are both “good” and “bad”. There are memories of people who have influenced how I understand the Holy.  Bits of pieces of scripture, poetry, and storiesy, are like sting or ribbon adding color or form or whimsy.

And the mud…the mud of daily life.  I am not a big fan of mud.  Though I used to make some pretty great mixtures of mud, sand, flower petals, leaves and the like for mud pies.  I know think it is mostly just gunky and makes a mess on my floor.  But much of our lives are held together with mud.  The ordinary, the stuff of the life: routines, laundry, fights, kids, church attendance, grocery shopping, feeding the dog and cat and prayer.  Prayer….Prayer and mud, now that’s and interesting juxtaposition.  But sometimes we think that prayer is the extra.  The ribbon, the string, the special bits.  But if you want your life, your nest, to hold together prayer is the essential ingredient. It holds all the other stuff together.  It’s as common and plentiful as your next breath or heartbeat.  Thank you God for all of the building materials that have gone into creating our nests.  Thank you most  of all for the mud, that holds it all into place, that gives our nests strength, and that is always close at hand.

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Have a good week.

love,

sbb