ROBIN IN A RAINSTORM

From TODAY, Voices
Thursday, 05-March-2009

By Dr James Dobson


Single parenting can be like a robin in a rainstorm. Sometimes the loneliness of single parenting can seem almost unbearable.

I’ve heard that so often from those trying to parent without the aid of a spouse – and how frequently they long for companionship in this monumental task. But let me share a story that was related to me by a single mother.

She was looking out her window one drizzly day and saw a mother robin with a brood of chicks, perched in their nest in a scrub oak tree. As the rain poured down, the mother covered her chirping chicks beneath her extended wings.

But then hail began to fall, and instead of tucking her own head safely into the nest, the mother robin extended her head upward and took the blows to protect her young. And they made it safely through the storm.

Now, I don’t want to oversimplify the complex task of the single parent, but I do want to offer a word of encouragement: I know you are taking the blows today to protect your little brood. But there is a better day coming.

Storms don’t last forever and there will be a rainbow in the sky for those who refuse to panic and fly away. We extend our love and respect to you today.