Just right
- Shannon Deppen
- Mar 8
- 4 min read
I tapped on the screen, opening a video that showed a time-lapse of the small bird flitting around. My sister-in-law had sent me a video on social media that compressed the amount of time it takes for a bird to make their nest. Someone had hooked up a camera in the compact space and it showed this careful little creature bringing in what must have been hundreds of little twigs, pieces of brush, and shreds of moss. She fussed over where to put each one, carefully creating her space to be just right for its purpose. Layer after layer of seemingly meaningless pieces of her surroundings came together to be perfect for her home. I couldn't help but consider how that relates to each of us.
The black-capped chickadee in the video started with nothing but an empty box. What the video didn't show was her searching outside for the right piece to begin her collection, the perfect material for where her babies would be born and live. She found each piece, carefully bringing each one back and placing it before finding another and rearranging it. This project didn't take an hour or two, it took several days, maybe weeks to collect everything she needed. We start out as an empty box too. We are God's blank canvas, the shell of what will become a home for the Holy Spirit. God sees the potential in us, fusses over the perfect pieces to begin crafting our lives, carefully chooses every memory, experience, joys and struggles, to create a space that is just right for its purpose. God comes to us with a purpose, an intentional love, in order to bring us closer to Him, to protect us, to establish roots of faith, and create a warrior for His kingdom. Jeremiah 29:11 states "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope." Just like His created chickadee, nothing is coincidental about how He creates us, shapes our lives, forms our experiences. Everything comes together for His almighty purpose, and we can trust that God is shaping us to fit just perfectly into His plan.
Part of what was so moving about the little video of the nest being built, is that the pieces used are so small, so easily overlooked. It felt like a 'one person's trash is another person's treasure' kind of moment. I wonder if that is how we are built too. The little moments of each day that we might overlook can often become some of the building blocks of our memories, our character, our feelings of nostalgia and joy. The Holy Spirit picks the little things: the way the sunshine feels on our face, the smell of a fresh spring breeze on our cheeks, the sound of a lazy little creek trickling over rocks. Then there are the moments that become our favorite memories: the first time my mom and I made homemade bread together, the long summer days spent swimming with my brothers, my dad taking me for ice cream when he would surprise me and pick me up from elementary school. There is nothing grand about bread or swimming pools or ice cream, but they are part of the safe places in my heart that helped craft who I am now. God did this on purpose, and He does it with every single one of us. He picks times that made a difference to us, that might have seemed small at one time, and used it to build something bigger, to put together the pieces that make us who we are, that make us individuals and special and valuable. Philippians 2:13 reminds us of this when we are told "For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure." God does not leave us empty, but instead works on us and in us and through us every day.
Without the Holy Spirit, we remain as we began: empty. If we do not give God the liberty to take residence in our hearts, He listens to us and leaves. However, without Him, we lose all of what He brings, including salvation, hope, true joy, faith, and more. In the same way, we have the ability to give more and more room to the Holy Spirit, and give Him the chance to work in us in every place of our lives, in every nook and cranny of our hearts. Soon we will see how God works through what we say and what we do, using us to build something bigger than ourselves, for the purpose of His glory. When we give more space in ourselves to the Lord, we then become extensions of His hand, able to do more for Him, only possible through the sacrifice of Jesus. Galatians 2:20 explains that "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." When we look at ourselves this way, we can have renewed faith in the hand of God working in us and around us. We can live our lives giving more and more room to the Holy Spirit within us.
We can learn a lot about God by admiring and observing His creations in nature. I was moved by the way God designed the chickadee, the way it fussed over creating its home. Matthew 6:26 reminds us how much more precious we are to God than the birds He created: "Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?" God is creating a masterpiece in us; He cares for us, provides for us, loves us, and gives us companionship. He does not leave us empty, but rather works to create a home for the Holy Spirit to take permanent residence, to encourage us to grow closer to Him. We are more precious to Him than the black-capped chickadee creating her nest, and yet He provides and cares for her too. What a tremendous blessing to be fussed over, cared about, and loved as much as God loves us!
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