God is Dove

A few weeks ago, I decided to take action on my desire to start a meditation practice. I set myself up on a little cushion in the sunshine outside on my rooftop terrace, my back against the wall for support so I wouldn't get distracted by discomfort. I was positioned pretty much directly below the dove nest, which is frequently populated by mama dove. Whether she was sitting on her brood or not, I couldn't tell. Usually, she doesn't seem disturbed by my presence when I putter around tending to my plants or sit on a chair reading quite close by, so I didn't think she'd mind me sitting on the ground beneath her.

So I started my meditation with a little prayer and talk with God. My theme was asking for help in opening my heart to His presence in my life, and to help me have a repentant heart, something I have a hard time finding sometimes when I go astray.

Well, as I was asking this and going deeper into asking this, suddenly there was a great fluttering of wings and a little thump. Mama dove had flown off suddenly and her little baby had dropped out of the nest in her wake, and was lying on the ground in front of me, struggling. I gulped in alarm and ran inside to get a cloth to gently lift her (I remember reading somewhere that the human scent on a baby bird can put the mother off it) and place her back in her nest, talking to her soothingly the whole time. Having done what I could do, I returned to my meditation, but moved to my normal reading place.

And no sooner had I closed my eyes and taken a deep breath, then the lesson came in a flurry of images and comprehension: "Repentance is but an expression of love...love and repentance on a spectrum, a continuum.' My compassion for the baby bird and the mama was born of the universal love in my heart, and made me jump to action to restore the bird to safety and make things right, without thinking. And because of my love and respect for these lovely creatures, I was sorry for what I had done to disturb the peace of this family of birds and corrected my position. This is repentance.

As Mary Oliver says, "you do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves...."

To cultivate a penitent heart, cultivate love. For with love, we instinctively act compassionately and righteously. Self-correction is the natural outcome of a loving spirit that has conquered ego.

Thank you, Dove!