I was the last one up in our house on Saturday. I slept so late in fact, that by the time I woke up, Mary Michael and the girls were already at the BMV. My phone rang, MM informing me that it looked like at least an hour wait at the BMV and the girls had a baby bird in a shoe box. They wanted to take the bird to the local nature center. It took me a moment to focus and understand what was going on.

“A baby bird? What are they doing with a baby bird.”

“They found the bird on the patio. It was having trouble hopping and the bird is too young to fly, so they wanted to get him some help. Can you come take them up to the nature center so the bird doesn’t have stay in the car while we are at the BMV?”

.I drove up and met them. The kids got the shoe box and introduced me to Fly Guy.  They were concerned about the bird’s condition while speculating what type of bird it was. Turns out, Fly Guy was a baby robin. In full disclosure, my attitude towards getting up on a Saturday morning and helping my children rescue a baby bird was less than stellar.

Anyone who pays any attention at all knows this world is not how God desires it to be. One of our biggest sources of brokenness is our failure to see our shared humanity and our connection to all of creation. We fail to connect the dots that all that we see is indeed connected. Whereas we call others everything under the sun, God calls all of creation beloved and worthy, even Fly Guy.

I’m sure other generations have said this, but this is not the easiest time to be raising kids. It’s hard to know how to get it right. In moments like this, you realize you are not alone in raising your kids. It really does take a village. We have been blessed by a large village from the church who has given our kids what we could not. In a day and age when it is easy to be critical of the church, I know she is doing something right. The living proof was riding in my car with me. As we were driving to the nature center, I gave a silent word of thanks for the many who had instilled a sense of compassion and unconditional love into our daughters. It was one of those moments when one has a glimpse of hope that just maybe our better selves will prevail. A moment when one has confidence that the church has an important role to play in healing the world.

It turned out that Fly Guy was going to be alright. The nature center expert helped us to know where to release him so that his mother may find him. He was safely rescued. After all, the Gospel is, at its core, a rescue story. We may just be alright after all.