Suited Up for the Dive-Bombers: Author Dad Code #1 + a new reflection
What a protective mother robin taught me about love and creativity
This past week I put on a ridiculous amount of protective gear just to check on a robin’s nest in my backyard. A bit of chaos ensued.
The mom robin was not impressed. And I have my dive-bomb reaction video to prove it.
Somewhere between the real life comedy and the backyard chaos, I realized this moment was teaching me something important about the faith-informed writing life and parenting.
If you follow me on IG or Facebook, you may have seen my funny video. I decked myself up in protective gear—goggles, a raincoat, garden gloves and a bike helmet—to get close to the nest of a mother robin who dive bombed me when I went to snap a video of the big-eyed alien babies that just hatched in the nest in our backyard.
A garbage can lid was my impromptu shield. I was a dollar store version of a gladiator, a homemade Halloween costume one DIY accessory away from pathetic.
Hatching a story
A story idea started to hatch even as I created the video. The obvious spiritual reference was Ephesians 6, it was an “Armor of God” bit that was basically writing itself.
But that wasn't the story that cracked open and unfurled its unused, wet wing.
It wasn't even so much a story about how much a parent wants to protect the young lives entrusted to them (though we do).
Instead a Psalm 84:3-type of story dropped into my heart the way the little hatchlings emerged into my backyard: stunned, needing sustenance, swollen eyelids slowly blinking open to look wide at the surprising surroundings.
Why was I there anyway?
What was I there for?
Well, to capture a video, to catch the miracle of life in an unexpected place. Even risking the loss of an eye to see it, if only to be blinded because of wonder.
Could it be that God sneaks up on us in the same way to catch us at our most unguarded, our most helpless and wonderful, when we're not trying to prove anything, be anything, just to get a glimpse and to be near that which He has made?
Even the sparrow has a place near the altar.
From bird cam to Bible script
This backyard space, where the chaos of a dive-bombing robins encounter the ridiculous curiosity of an author dad on a quest for discovery, is where the story seed is planted. Where truth is cracked open. Right in the middle of dadlife.
I've already penned the script, a story inspired somewhere between the garage and the robin’s nest.
Author Dad Code: Inspiration, right where we are
It's amazing what happens when you stop what you're doing and take more time to listen.
If you've been receiving my newsletter, you may remember that I chose to take a hiatus from the schedule of writing that I've kept for the last few years.
I stopped and I listened. I still am. While I haven't determined every next step, I've enjoyed what I'm hearing and will be sharing some of the observations through my lens as an Author Dad.
The first Author Dad Code learning is that creativity requires us to suit up and show up, even if we're afraid (and even if the thing we're afraid of is small or silly to others).
In fact, parenting or any other life challenge requires us to show up scared.
Just like the mother robin protected her young, God does too. What's more, as I hinted above, God makes a place for us and protects that too.
Simple truths, but I'm feeling them intently. I hope they encourage you.
How about you?
I’d love to hear what your learning in your journey as a parent or a creative.
What’s one thing you’ve discovered as you’ve had to ‘suit up’ lately and what did you learn?
