Predictability

Recently returned from her annual trip South, an Eastern Phoebe is nesting high on the wall above a bedroom window where we can see her from the kitchen. The nest, plastered to the wall with mud, went up in just a few days, and now cradles 3 tiny cream-colored eggs. Soon we hope to watch her raise her young, as Phoebes have done here for the past 20 years or so. We love the predictability of nature. And then, just when we're counting on something to continue just as it always has... it doesn't.

A couple of years ago a wild rabbit made our dog kennel her sanctuary. (Needless to say, we didn't have a dog in residence at the time.) She would flop down there and survey her domain from behind the chain-link fence. We called her our Guard Rabbit. Her other favorite hangout was between the north wall of the house and the air compressor, only 10 feet from my downstairs studio window. She used to wash there, licking her paws, then cleaning her face and behind her ears before snuggling down for an afternoon nap. Rabbits survive by being unpredictable. It's been 2 years since we've seen her, and by now, we don't expect to see her again, but just maybe, if we're lucky, one of her great-grandkids will find the same haunt and repeat the cycle.

 "But ask the animals what they think— 

  let them teach you; 

  let the birds tell you what's going on.

  Put your ear to the earth—   

  learn the basics. 

  Listen— 

  the fish in the ocean will tell you their stories.

  Isn't it clear that they all know and agree 

  that God is sovereign,  

  that he holds all things in his hand—

  Every living soul, yes, every breathing creature? 

  Job 12:7-10 The Message