A Parable of Sorts
In response to my message to her, the Christian woman who has been corresponding with me (which I write about here) replied with a long message with lots of scripture and teaching about the divinity of Christ and dire warnings of what will happen if I don't trust in Jesus according to her interpretation of the Bible. I believe she is motivated by love and a spiritual conviction to help me.After about a day, I wrote her back with the following story.
This past summer I got to spend a special week with my mom. It turned out to be the last time that she was really well enough to get around and talk much before she left us. We mostly sat on the front porch. She read and I did my work on my laptop. Sometimes we spoke. It was the week where she accepted that she was going to be gone soon, so we enjoyed every moment we had.
One day on that porch something incredible happened. As I sat at the table and my mom on the other side of the porch in her chair, a large pigeon landed on the table less than two feet from me. My parents live 100 miles outside of New York City and growing up there I had never seen a pigeon there before in my life. The pigeon just looked at us like we were supposed to know what to do. It looked weary and a little distressed. We stared at it feeling shocked. It stood and looked back at us.
I noticed the pigeon had a band tagged around one of its legs, so I realized that it was a racing pigeon that someone must keep somewhere nearby. I went on-line to find out how to help a lost pigeon in distress. I learned that it mostly needed water in a bowl but not too deep. We got the water and it gratefully drank. We gave it some grain too. Then it sat down, contented and fell asleep on the table in front of me.
Through the internet I tracked down the owner of the pigeon, thanks to the info on the leg band. I called him and said he could come and get his pigeon. He was thrilled that we had the bird but added that there was no sense coming to get it since it will just fly away when he would try to catch it; it is not very tame. I explained that it seemed very tame at the moment and that it was less than a foot away from me without any problems. He said he'd come right over.
My mom has never liked pets. She didn't dislike animals, but she thought it was unsanitary to have pets in the house. Some of us suffered from allergies and asthma, so I think this was part of the pet ban in the house (we always had animals outside the house though--dogs, rabbits, etc). As we waited for the pigeon's keeper, it hopped off the table and walked around the porch. My mom watched with wonder. She felt so surprised and pleased that the pigeon landed on her porch.
Then to my shock, when my mom walked into the house, the pigeon followed her, and most surprising of all, she didn't stop it. So that when the man came to pick up his pigeon, it was sitting at my parents' feet in the living room as they watched TV.
For the last few weeks of her life, my mom loved telling people about that pigeon story.
I do not know why God put me on your heart and for what purposes, how this connection will bless me and bless you and bless others.
But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of woman or man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
posted by Peterson Toscano @ 3:14 PM
2 Comments:
A beautiful story indeed. Reminds me of the dove in "Bröderna Lejonhjärta" by Astrid Lindgren.
And I wonder just how many exhausted, bewildered, disorientated and lost lesbian, gay, trans, bi, parents of, .... 'pigeons' have been directed to land at your feet where they have found the nourishment they needed to sustain them for the next stage of their life journey. Keep feeding stray pigeons and be blessed as you have blessed others.
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