Have you ever felt so drained that you couldn’t go on? Feeling liked you’ve been knocked down so low that you may not be abIe to get up? If so, listen to this lesson of resilience.
Spring is here – love is in the air and so are the birds!
Those darling cute, fine-feathered friends have now morphed into vicious, driven, and never relenting pests. They built their nest in the alcove right above our outside eating area, dropping the grass and twigs on our dinner table.
First Attempt: I took a broom to it. The nest, along with 3 eggs came tumbling down. (Talk about guilt….I didn’t realize that there were eggs in there.) Mother and Father bird circled for a day looking for their long-gone family.
They would surely find a new place for their babies, not wanting to endanger more with these “uncaring people”.
When they rebuilt their future home, my Second Attempt employed the hose washing away their second nest. Would they take the hint?
Following their third nest, my Third Attempt would surely scare them off with a stuffed black bear, jammed it into their tiny space taking up most of the room. But somehow the birds managed their way in and found a way to cuddle up to the bear and settled in around their “big friend”. Geez…would they EVER give up?
After another thorough cleaning the Fifth Attempt tried to totally block their entrance. Joe, husband and abetting partner, took cut cardboard, “fit to size”, and duck taped it, permanently closing them out. For an entire day the birds kept circling looking for ways to get in. We got them! Finally!
Joe and I went to bed thinking that our problems were solved. But the birds called in a Higher Power. A strong windstorm came in during the night ripping the cardboard, tape and all, hurling it into the bushes. Seemed liked even God was working with the birds deserting us.
We are now on our Sixth Attempt, lining their alcove with steel wool. The determined birds are dancing a little, as we are busy planning our Seventh Attempt: sticky paper.
No matter who wins this tug-of-war, we can learn important lesson in perseverance.
There’s an “old fashion” virtue, one that many people don’t hear much about anymore, called perseverance. When I think of persevering I get the mental image bundling up in parkas, mittens, boots, and scarves, trying to keep my balance walking into the bitter cold gusts of a Midwest winter! Some days, some situations are like that, requiring the courage and “all we got” to walk forward mustering every ounce of energy determined like those birds to reach our goal.
Here’s Sister Mary Vodka’s “secret” for survival:
- Jump through whatever hoop is put in front of you, keeping your eye focused intently on what is immediately in front of you. Don’t despair looking at the end goal and all that it entails. Chunk it out into bite-sized pieces. Keep plodding, keep trudging, doing whatever it takes to get through it. Remember nothing lasts forever. The highs eventually come down and the lows soon turn upward.
- Trust that whatever happens to you is for your best interest…for some reason that you may not understand at the time. Put your life into the hands of the Creator who knows your “Bigger Picture” and let it go.
- Hope. Remember that you’ve had “bad days” before. You have obviously succeeded because you are still here! You have “gotten through the ordeal’, and “managed the trial”. So in my estimation, you are batting 1,000! Keep that success record in you memory bank, relying on your stellar “batting average” often.
Now armed with the attitudes of knowledge, trust, and hope, you are well equipped to weather or persevere any storm that may come your way. Know that we all have hardships and struggles (why else would we be here?) and with the virtue of perseverance you will come out the other side the “winner” that you are!
How do you cope with setbacks?
