Snake in a Robins Nest.

A few years ago I discovered a robins nest at work. I would tell the mama bird good morning every morning when I woke up. I would check on the eggs in the evening. I did this for an entire week. After the weekend was over I got back to work and said good morning like I did every morning. No bird. I stopped and looked and saw the tail of a snake. I started shaking.

I went inside and asked for a glove and went back out. I told the kids to stay inside. I got the snake down. I chopped the head off and went back to check on the birds, they were gone. My heart was shattered. I went back to the snake and chopped him up into about 6 pieces and threw him over the fence. I actually asked my bosses husband to remove the nest because I couldn't do it.

They left to get groceries and I lost it. The kids were on my lap. I couldn't breathe. I was mad. I was upset. I had watched these birds go from eggs to little babies. I felt like I had a relationship with the mama bird. For over a week I talked to her. I had formed a relationship with this bird. As weird and twisted as that may sound.

I was talking to Justin about it the other evening because another robin built a nest there. I told him I wanted to tear it down. I couldn't sit and watch another mama bird lose her babies like that. Justin told me that I should get some moth balls and put at the base of the post to keep the snakes away. I was telling him the story, again. I started crying. Justin said, "now you know how God feels." I said, "what do you mean."

Justin explained to me that the emotion that I felt, anger and sadness, is how God feels when his children sin. I was floored. I almost couldn't drive. I never thought about it like that. Even thinking about the situation brings those emotions back up. I couldn't even imagine God feeling that way. I know that God gets angry and I know he gets sad. But the amazing part is how He forgives. I still, to this day, get mad at the snake. It's dead. It's gone. The situation was like 2 years ago. BUT I still get worked up about it and hate that snake.

A SNAKE FOR GOODNESS SAKE! THAT'S DEAD! I still hate him. And here God is, getting hurt every time I sin. He gets mad. He gets sad. And opens his arms and says, "I forgive you." It's not an excuse to continue my sin or being disobedient. It's insentive. To know that I put that much pain in God's heart. To think that the amount of pain I experienced is what God experiences every time you sin. EVERY TIME!

I think it's put a new perspective of sin in my life. To know that it hurts Him to the extent that I experienced pain when I saw those baby birds gone. How I lashed out in anger. How he lashes out in forgiveness. Yes there is sadness, anger, disappointment. But there IS forgiveness.