When Work Can Wait
Just outside my window is a robin’s nest, and the activities of the robin family keep distracting me. It’s been difficult to get 
my work done. However, while watching the birds, I just about decided work can wait.
When the female began sitting on the nest, I was captivated by the care she took as she sat on the eggs. After flying into the nest, she sat down then shuffled and fluffed her feathers. Then she shuffled and fluffed some more until everything was just right. At times it took up to a minute for her to be satisfied and finally settle down.
Those eggs didn’t look anything like a robin. And yet, the mama knew to care for them. She invested a lot of time and attention to nurture them before she ever met her babies. Why would she do that when eggs don’t look anything like the birds that will soon appear?
It seems that while God is creating a baby in the womb, He also shapes a mother’s heart to prepare it to receive the baby and care for it. Why else would a mother bird build a nest and then care for strange rounded objects in it?
It reminds me of Jeremiah 1:5, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, And before you were born I consecrated you.”
The real joy in the whole picture is its representation of our Father’s care for us. He knew us before the womb, prepared the womb for us, and formed us within it.
He hovered over us before we were, just as the mother bird was so particular in her efforts to cover all the eggs in the nest. Except with the Creator, the care and attention would be even greater and more particular than a bird’s care for her young.
Furthermore, before we take our first breath, He consecrates us, sets us apart as unique and special, with thoughts and plans that are distinctly for us. For me. And for you. Different, each special ordered.
My to-do list tells me I’m wasting time watching the birds.
My heart tells me it has been time well spent. I’ve decided that work will always be there, but if the Lord is speaking, it’s time to sit at His feet and listen.
After all, Jesus told Martha, “you are worried and bothered about so many things, but . . . Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her” (Lu. 10:41-42).
“I will hear what God the Lord will say; For He will speak peace to His people, to His godly ones” (Ps. 85:8).
I’m grateful for a living God. One who speaks life, comfort and peace in the midst of the rush of the day. Work can wait.