Two mourning doves sitting in a spider plant!

The other day when I went to water my spider plant that is hanging on my front porch, I discovered a surprise. A mourning dove had made a nest there. I was more shocked that she/he didn’t move off the nest no matter how close I came. Checking up on the nest became a fascination for me.

Because I am such a nerd and love to learn all this random stuff that isn’t really important, I looked up a couple of things. More surprises! Pecans really. Just didn’t know it at the time.

First thing I looked up was about the habits of mourning doves. I knew they mated for life and that one always sees the pair together. One thing I learned is that they will nest on porches where they feel safe. That is why this pair selected my porch to nest. They felt safe. I think I get why they feel safe here. Not many people come to my front door except for the person delivering the Amazon packages! They could rest here and incubate their eggs without being disturbed. I also learned that when they nest they both share the responsibility for sitting on the nest. That means that sometimes the dad was on duty and sometimes the mom. I never could figure out which one was which. I read that usually the female sits on the nest at night and the male works the day shift. Brings a whole new meaning to “Daddy Day Care!” Another interesting fact that I read was that they change places in the late afternoon or early evening. How about this for a pecan? I witnessed this happening. I was checking up on the nest through the window, and both were sitting on the pot. I watched the one on the nest move off and the one on the edge of the pot move onto the nest. It was really cool. This led me to the next thing to investigate online.

Next, I googled (I have no idea what I would do without google) what does it mean to have a dove on your door. I figured somewhere along the line someone had some meaning wrapped up in this blessing from nature. The biggest surprise was in this information. Huge pecan for sure!

Of course, having a dove nest near the house is considered special. Biblically, doves are mentioned several times in the Bible. Mary and Joseph used doves as a sacrifice at the temple. Noah saw the dove return with an olive branch. These two come to mind quickly when I think about doves. Some cultures believe that the dove is symbolic of The Holy Spirit! How about that! After I read this fact, I thought more about the bird itself. The fact that it mates for life and that both parents work together to bring their hatch-lings into the world. Doesn’t that pattern what the Lord set up for us Biblically? Then, every time I stepped out on the porch the bird never moved except when I tried to water the plant. It would watch me as I watched it. It never seemed scared of me. It was like it knew I wasn’t going to hurt it. The dark eye just stared at me. It didn’t scare me either. It filled me with this peace. It was strange really. Calming to just stand there and talk to this bird that didn’t know what I was saying (or did it?) while waiting for these baby birds to be born. Yep, that reminds me of The Holy Spirit too! Like the Quaker tradition of open worship- which is when anyone in the church that feels the lead of The Holy Spirit can speak, sing, or pray. Watching that bird was like me being in the presence of The Holy Spirit. Imagine how blown my mind is when I put all of this together! I am in awe! And in all honesty, I believe God arranged that bird being on my porch. I needed it.

Some days, it’s just hard. Hard to go to work, to sleep, to rest, to be inspired. Life is hard. Some days more than others, but this bird was symbolic to me of the peace, protection, and nurturing The Holy Spirit brings to me. The birds making their nest in that flower pot turned into something way more than I could have imagined. It turned into hope.

May you find that nature graces your porch or yard and may you find that it gives you hope! Look around and see all of the “pecans” that God has blessed you with. He scatters them everywhere. Just look.