I’ve recently made a new friend, and I’m enjoying getting to know her. She’s actually teaching me a great deal about myself, and about how to be a good mom.

Here is a picture of my friend:

She arrived on our windowsill about two weeks ago and began building her nest with the male partner. Apparently, they had scouted out the area together and deemed our sill to be a good place to begin a family. Who can blame them? She has been sitting there, without fail, for two weeks straight and I only found out that the eggs were actually there when I accidentally scared her.

I opened the window to get some air and she suddenly flew away. We knew she had been making the nest and preparing for the eggs, but we didn’t have any proof at that time that the eggs actually were there. When she flew away, I saw the eggs and started to call her back. “Oh no!” I thought. “Come back to your eggs mommy! They need you.” From that time, I’ve tried not to scare her and not to let the kids too close.

Each morning, I greet her as I start my day at the computer, and we sit about five feet from each other throughout my morning. How she continues to sit, patiently, through the noise that ensues in my home all afternoon, I really can’t say. But, sit she does. As we wait for those eggs to hatch, here are the lessons that I’m finding myself learning from my new friend:

1. Location, location, location. Much of parenting is about location. We need to protect our children, find good neighborhoods for them, and shield them from danger. After we do our part, however, it’s time to hope and to pray that everything will turn out well. We can only control so much.

2. Patience – Good things, she is showing me, come to those who wait. While I might want it NOW (whatever IT is), it’s often worthwhile to be patient and to wait for good things to arrive.

3. Faith – Why she trusts that things will turn out alright for her babies, I don’t know. But, she certainly seems to. She is teaching me to trust in nature’s process and to have faith that things will turn out as they are supposed to, eventually and naturally.

4. Responsibility – She is showing me that not everything in life comes easily. Those little eggs of hers wouldn’t hatch if she weren’t committed to sitting on them week after week. And so, she’s taken the responsibility of doing so and I can learn a great deal from her about this trait.

5. Cooperation – It’s been very interesting to watch the male bird, and the part that he’s taken in this process. He’s been mostly responsible for building the nest, and he brings food to her as she sits. Parenting is certainly a team effort; both parents need to take roles and each of their roles is important, if different. They must cooperate to get the job done without blame, frustration or anger.

I certainly expect to continue to learn from my little friend in the coming weeks, and to celebrate when all of her work pays off! I’ll keep you posted.