In the Harshest of Circumstances

It started out as all the Program Group on Black Ministry meetings start -- with someone near the coffee pots setting out food for dinner. Then there was the exclamation, "Oh My!" as the Rev. Margaret Hudley McCauley discovered that right outside the window was a bird's nest with two eggs in it.

What is most unusual about this bird's nest is that is was built in a dangerous area -- you see there are spikes sticking up so that birds do NOT nest there. Here, in the midst of these spikes, a pigeon had made a nest and laid her eggs. Two pigeons came and sat near the nest -- resting on the edge of the window sill. In the pictures perhaps you can see the "spikes" sticking up around the eggs and silhouetting where the pigeon is sitting.

I couldn't help but think about and pray for all the families in our diocese -- and in the world -- who are trying to raise children in the most difficult of situations -- surrounded by war, poverty and/or disease.

Today I'm praying for all these families -- and for these birds.