Innocent as Doves
Category: Faith... Nature...
Posted Friday, June 29, 2007 at 09:12 AM [GMT-6]

I've always been of the opinion that doves are among the most stupid of birds. They flock by the score in our neighborhood, and are continually being struck by cars because they insist on squatting in the middle of the street.

They're also inexpert nest builders; if there was a nest equivalent of a shanty, it would be built by a dove. And they often choose the oddest places for a nest. Well, like this one:

I spotted this dove roosting on a nest she'd built on top of a ladder leaning against the wall of our neighbor's house. I assume she's keep guard over an egg or two. Here's a close-up:

As silly as this behavior seems, I have to admire her nurturing instinct and bravery. I was able to get within six feet to take the second photo, and she gave no sign of contemplating flight (and dove are just as skittish as they are dimwitted). The nest might not have been much to look at, but it was hers, by gosh, and she was going to stick with it and its contents no matter what.

I suppose this is some of what Jesus was referring to in his admonition to his disciples to be "shrewd as serpents and gentle as doves." He was sending them into an uncertain and hostile world where the natural tendency would be to flee. But he was also empowering them to overcome that tendency, not through equal force or aggression, but through purity of motive.

This would seem to be a characteristic worth emulating, regardless of whatever else we might think of doves.