Space for Life and Love

For decades I have watched a mallard couple, dabbling in the reeds in a small swampy drainage channel near where I catch the train.

You may say "mallards don't live for decades!"

And you would be right. But there has always been a mated pair here. As soon as the ice is gone, and before the snow has fled, they appear, probing at the roots of the fragmities, swimming right up against each other, quacking gently.

Always two, the little, still stream is too small for three; always together, side by side, with eyes for each other, danger, and food.

There is a lot of beauty in their couple-hood, their seeking out of this spot, their inhabiting it and making it their home.

And there is something more to the fact that it has been a home to many duck-couples before them.

Here there is a niche, a special place where two birds rest and love and live together. Just enough for two small lovers to live, and feed, and make their home.

A space has been provided, and life has filled it.

May we also find blessed space in and for our lives, and keep it filled with life and love.