My little friend

As I began working in the backyard this past spring I noticed a Robin. He (or she) always kept his distance but was always there. As I would move from one part of the yard to the other he would hop up on the fence and then back to the ground on the other side. I was eating my lunch after tilling and I noticed him plucking juicy worms from the freshly turned soil. He would often take baths in the puddle the sprinklers made in the grass. Soon he was joined by another Robin and four babies. We watched them grow and try their wings jumping off rocks to the ground below. As they grew their brown chests begin to fill in with red feathers. When the stream began to run they would splash and play in the water, chasing away the smaller birds but running quickly when the magpies came around. I chased away the magpies and a stray cat that came around for a while. I watch my robin almost every day. He always sits in the same place in the stream by the red island rock that the kids love too. He often fluffs out his feathers and just sits in the water as if he is hatching some invisible egg - maybe it really is a she. During many long hours of work this summer I lamented about what I had gotten myself into but I was never alone. I kept at it and the robin was always nearby, much like our Father in Heaven.