Spring arrived, and with warmer weather, we put our house plants outside on the back porch. Since the porch is un-screened, we have always had problems with birds nesting in the pots.

One day, on the way out of the house, a startled bird flew from a newly built nest in one of the pots. Aggravated that a bird had managed to build a new nest so quickly, we moved the nest to the an empty dirt filled pot on the bottom step of the back porch.

We we arrived home that evening, there was a dove sitting on the nest. As we approached, the dove flew, but in the nest lay a single egg. Not wanting to leave the nest on the steps, we moved the pot to the top of a storage bin. In hind sight, this wasn’t the best location for our new resident. The nest was now exposed to the weather and animals, but we didn’t expect the dove to return to a human touched nest. To our surprise and dismay, the dove returned and laid another egg!

Could this persistent dove be trying to tell us something? She would not be deterred from her eggs: not humans, not weather, not even the threat of hungry animals. We then starting discussing Noah sending out the dove after the flood and that doves are often seen as messengers of peace. Was the dove a messenger for us? Suddenly, we had the name of our website, the dove nest. We would send out our “dove” as a messenger on the internet to offer free Bibles to anyone.

Strangely, the next day, the dove, nest, and eggs had all disappeared. We sadly thought an animal had discovered our little family, but there were no shells, no feathers, not even a nest left behind. Even the dirt in the pot was undisturbed. It was if it had never really been there at all. There is probably some logical explanation..