Be praised, my Lord, through all your creatures,
especially through my lord Brother Sun,
who brings the day; and you give light through him.
And he is beautiful and radiant in all his splendour!
Of you, Most High, he bears the likeness.

Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Moon and the stars,
in heaven you formed them clear and precious and beautiful.
~Canticle of the Sun, St. Francis of Assisi 

Don’t let the sweet face fool you, our dog Hildy hates all creatures, with the exception of humans.  She’s never met a person she doesn’t like.  However, she’s never met another dog (or any other critter, for that matter) that she does like.  Not long after Hildy came to us, there were young robins who had just hatched right near the back door of our house.  One of those baby robins somehow toppled out of the nest and Hildy found the poor thing on the ground.  As you can imagine, that bird was not long for this world after that encounter.  As an aside, I wonder what St. Francis would have made of Hildy’s relationship with God’s creation!

This week I discovered that robins were once again attempting to build a nest in the rhododendron bush right near our back door.  Same place as before. 
Not only that, the nest was being built on an alarmingly low branch. 
I fretted about this for days. 

Because I love animals.  And I am especially fond of dogs and robins! 
Maybe the birds would be fine, and it would all work out. 
Maybe it would be like that one spring where I could observe the parents building the nest and the brilliant blue eggs and then the babies hatching.  What a lovely sign of new life! 
Or maybe it would be a repeat of this time last spring, when that poor baby robin became a snack for our shepherd. 

So I took matters into my own hands and ripped out the beginnings of the nest. 
It had taken a robin days to get started, and I destroyed that nest in seconds. 
Just needed somewhere to confess this week, so thanks for hearing me out. 

Now maybe it all would have worked out just fine, and the creatures would have coexisted.  But in these sometimes heavy days, when it can seem like everything is too much, I just couldn’t risk the death of another baby robin in our backyard.  I hope the robins will forgive me.  And ultimately that they find a safer place to build their nest! 

Praised be you, my Lord, for Brother Robin,
spared from the clutches of Sister Hildy the Dog,
May the Robins be safe and fly in peace and happiness this spring.  Amen.

Love,
Pastor Lauren

Photo by Rev. Lauren Lorincz.

Thursday Thoughts 5/12/22