“I think I could turn and live with animals. They do not sweat and whine about their condition. Not one is dissatisfied.” – Walt Whitman

We stood at the living room window watching the small bird, a robin, I think, carry some straw much too big for its beak across the lawn. It tried once, then twice, then three times to use it, and somehow, with its very small brain, it flipped it over and over until it was good.

Then it flew off and came back and picked another. Each time, it shook the straw with great determination until it had shaken the straw down to the size it wanted.

It was humbling to watch this small creature work so hard, I thought I heard it singing to its mate as it labored to get yet another piece of straw up into our apple tree. I saw that it shook the straw each time and left behind what it couldn’t use.

The bird made me think of life as a nest that needs to be put together. It inspired me to consider what it was that I was trying to carry in my life, and how often I had been a stubborn bird, carrying things much too big to be of use.

I never thought to pare them down to what I really needed.