OK, so you all know that Woodie (Woodena?) Woodpecker has been driving me crazy for days, right? Lately, as my quick-witted mother would say, it’s been a short drive. Woodena seemed determined to build her nest inside the metal chimney (whatever happened to making a nice little home of twigs and string in trees?), so you can imagine the racket. (Think miniature jackhammer.) The enterprise began promptly at sunrise and knocked off around five in the afternoon, a good, long work day. I’d mutter, stomp outside, hit the side of the house with a broom handle or a book, in hopes of scaring away the bird–and off she’d fly. (Although I think the banging around startled Bernice and the cats more than it did the woodpecker.)
For maybe fifteen minutes, there was blissful silence. Then she was back, rat-at-tatting away, and we went through the whole bothersome scene again. And again.
So yesterday, it occurs to me that I’m not exactly practicing what I preach. Woodpeckers have a place in the scheme of things, too, after all, and just because I haven’t a clue what that place IS, well, that doesn’t mean there isn’t one. Plus, this little bird is a mama, looking for a place to hatch her babies, this being spring-time. Anyway, I decided to say a little prayer for Woodena, asking that she be kept safe, that she and her babies would thrive, and if they had to live in my chimney, so be it.
This is where the synchronicity comes in.
This morning, I awoke to bright sunshine. And no woodpecker. Zip. Not one little peckety-peck-peck.
I know, I know–it could be coincidence, maybe the nesting season suddenly ended or something. Except that, in my devotional reading this fine a.m., I came across a reference to–you guessed it, woodpeckers. Their message–every bird and animal has one or more, according to some theories–is, “The foundation has been laid. It is now safe to follow your own rhythms.”
Mind-blower!!! Without going into a lot of personal, not to mention boring, detail, I can tell you for a fact that this particular message was right on.
I love it when that happens.
About Linda
The daughter of a town marshal, Linda Lael Miller is a #1 New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author of more than 100 historical and contemporary novels, most of which reflect her love of the West.
Raised in Northport, Washington, Linda pursued her wanderlust, living in London and Arizona and traveling the world before returning to the state of her birth to settle down on a horse property outside Spokane.
