Jesus continued, “How can we picture God’s kingdom? What kind of story can we use? It’s like a pine nut. When it lands on the ground it is quite small as seeds go, yet once it is planted it grows into a huge pine nut tree with thick branches. The birds of the air can make nests in its shade.” (Mark 4: 30 – 32)

At the start of the pandemic lockdown, I noticed a pair of budgies were building a nest in the wreath on my front verandah. They’d already put so much work into it that I didn’t have the heart to take it down even though I knew the wreath would be ruined once they were done. In those first scary weeks of the pandemic, that hardly seemed to matter. Disease and death were descending on the world, and here was new life right at my door.

I have a big picture window in my lounge room that looks out on my front verandah, and I sat at a table by that window working the whole lockdown long, watching them through the glass only a couple of feet away.

They built the nest together. Once the female laid her eggs, the male didn’t come to the nest anymore. Rather, he would go get food and perch ion a tree branch above the verandah and call to her. She would leave the nest and fly up to him to eat. When he fed her, it looked like they were kissing.

How grateful I was to be sheltered and able to eat too during this time, and how reassuring it was to see creation care of itself and continue on, oblivious to the problems of humans.