Pixabay (2017), CC0 Public Domain[/caption]
It took me a while to figure out what it was that our lhasa poo, Ms. Daisy, had discovered. I was so busy working on my laptop on our back porch that I hadn’t even noticed she’d left my side. It’s only because I glanced up to give my eyes a break from the screen that I saw her, a third of the way down the yard, hovering over something in the grass. Then I saw her nudge it and called her away. It was a tiny robin, huddled in the grass.
Now all the chirping I was hearing in the background made sense. It was Mama Robin, perched on our fence, fretting at the perceived threat to her youngling.
Mama Robin didn’t know that Ms. Daisy wouldn’t have hurt her little one, so she went with her instincts to protect what God had given her to nurture. Ms. Daisy, in her own right, has an uncanny mothering tendency and will “mother” anything small and seemingly helpless that comes her way whether it’s a puppy, kid, cat, skunk, or bird. Ms. Daisy didn’t know that the tiny feathered thing wasn’t to be messed with and that the youngling’s real mama might swoop her if she didn’t relinquish her custody.
I felt sorry for Mama Robin and at the same time admired her courage. Ms. Daisy must be more than ten times her size, with teeth and claws that easily could rip her and her offspring apart, yet she wasn’t about to leave her post.
I think that, as moms in this often-dangerous culture, we can feel like Mama Robin. The forces at work that threaten to rip our offspring apart can seem to be more than ten times our size, leaving us feeling helpless and confused. Sometimes the threat is perceived and at other times it’s real. Sometimes we can have impact by swooping in and sometimes we need to stay back and let them figure things out on their own. We might even be tempted to admit defeat and flitter away because its just too much for us. But we must never abandon our post.
Perhaps our “chirps” go unheeded (or even unheard). But there is One who hears them, and One who notices and listens to our alarm. Our Lord knows what’s in our heart and the panic we feel inside. He also knows what is best for us and for our children and has a plan for us that is purposeful and divine even when it might seem chaotic or detrimental. His wisdom is beyond our comprehension and his power is beyond our capacity. Our chirps of alarm ascend as prayers to heaven, meriting the graces that we need to keep on keeping on. No matter how small we are, we are still moms who have both the obligation and right to pray for our children in any situation. In turn, those graces will be granted to us and to our younglings even when they become oldlings.
A mom is a mom no matter how small.
Copyright 2018 Marge Fenelon
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