By Ariane Williams

It was such a beautiful day to put some food on the grill and relax. I seasoned the food, and it was ready to be transported from my kitchen to the grill.  My taste buds were getting ready to taste what I had taken my time to prepare.

I looked outside and noticed that my husband was standing and staring at the grill. As he walked towards the house, I knew that something was wrong. He told me that we were not going to be able to use the grill because there was a bird’s nest in our grill. I wanted to see this nest that altered my plans, so I went to explore. As my eyes locked into the nest, I noticed that there were five little eggs in the nest.

It was captivating. The design of the nest was intricate and intimate, as it held little pieces of everything: straw, leaves, snakeskin, twigs and grass. The mother bird used what she could to make a nest to protect her eggs.

What do you do when your plans are altered? What do you do when you have outgrown your nest?

For some reason, I did not feel upset. I felt honored that the mother bird would choose my grill as a safety net for her babies. Over the next couple of weeks, I would peek into the grill to experience the process of growing inside the nest to live outside the nest: preparation for flight. I made clicking noises to see the birds open their mouths as they waited for their mother to bring them food. I watched the mother enter the grill and exit the grill. I supposed she was bringing things back to the nest.

Stop letting your gift sit and wait. You must bring a little something each time you enter so that when you exit, it will be in the building stage. Sometimes, we wait for God to expose our next assignment, when it is already nesting for us. You might feel prepared and seasoned where you are at this time, but God is getting ready to alter your plans. Once I found out that there was a nest in my grill, I had to go back into my house and reconstruct a new plan. The food that I was cooking on the grill never changed; however, I had to change how I was going to cook the food. Your anointing has not changed. You must figure out how you are going to execute this new plan.

As the weeks went by, there were storms that passed over the grill. One day, the wheel on the grill broke, so we had to put something in its place to make sure that the grill was balanced. I know you’re probably thinking, “Why do all of this for some birds?” If you protect what does not belong to you, the harvest that waits for you will attach itself to you and multiply. On the last day, I peeked into the grill and noticed that the birds moved near the hole that was in the grill. A couple of hours later, they were gone. However, there were remnants of building that were left behind as a message from God to me. I had experienced seeing the eggs. I had experienced the hatching of the eggs. I had experienced the baby birds sleeping. I had experienced the transition in size. I had experienced the nesting stage. The nest was empty.

We can no longer fear leaving the nest. I cannot tell you how the birds got out of the hole. My heart says that they flew away. They survived the storms and an unbalanced wheel, and so will you. They left the nest by themselves, and so will you. I learned that we must take little pieces of everything as we reconstruct our plan to reach our assignments. You have been in the nesting stage too long. Don’t just look at the hole at the bottom of the grill — the things that are holding you back. Take the leap. Take flight without fear. The nest is empty.

 

Ariane Williams is a teacher, minister, published author and liturgical dancer. Email her at arianewilliams810@yahoo.com.