Spring Arrivals

I guess my house has a powerful maternal vibe. As spring begins each year, well, I never know quite what’s coming. My neighbors laugh at my house-meets-nature stories, because they just don’t have the odd things happening that I do at their own places.

As spring arrives, I find myself grudgingly going along with most of the strange appearances and the universally accepted assumption that my place is not just mine. They were here first, after all, before this little house was built beside the woods. I smiled when the dove chose my garage light fixture for her nest three years in a row. She’d barely move when the garage door went up, and would carefully crane her neck to watch me pull the car in. There was a little nervous wriggling when I took the dog out…but my place was quite acceptable.

Another year, I opened the front door to find my door mat had become the new home of a fledging dove. She called it home for five days, until she could fly away. She preferred the exact center of my decorative front door mat as her favorite perch, just adding to the symmetry and visual balance out there while she was at it. She was preferable to the fox who saw my stone and stucco porch as a perfect warm den as the weather was just warming another year.

I was a little less comfortable with the cuteness of the litter of baby coyotes that snuggled up against the back wall of my house for a few weeks. Snuggled into little dirt beds along the foundation, right under my bedroom window. I’d wake up to hear them fussing with each other at night and in the morning. They’d sit with their floppy puppy ears and peak around my garden wall to check and see if I’d left my screened porch yet so they could go back to bed.

There’s some comfort in this mutual understanding each spring. A kind of truce and agreement saying we all need a little extra grace sometimes. Well, maybe I was a little less gracious to the mouse and the snakes. But, it’s spring. We’ll see who shows up this year.

Thank you God for the grace and shelter you provide for us. And for the chance you give us to show that grace in return to all your creatures.

 I know all the birds of the hills, and all that moves in the field is mine.

Psalm 50:10-12

Diana is a founding member of Peace Church, and only allows one cat and one dog inside, even if its spring.