The Swans

We've had big drama in the ponds behind my parents' home this summer. Every spring, swan pairs are introduced to the four ponds in the neighborhood to keep the Canadian geese at bay. What follows is usually pretty predictable: the male 'cobs' and female 'pens' mate, lay about 5-7 eggs, guard the nest until the babies hatch, and then parade around the pond with their darling cygnets in tow. Every once in a while disaster strikes, and a coyote might grab a cygnet in the night. Every morning we would peer out the windows to see the drama unfold.

Until one morning the female 'pen' was nowhere to be seen. It was bitter cold, and the eggs were getting colder by the minute. (Do you think Dad could have taken over for a while?? Guess not.) In the end, Mom had inexplicably died and was floating on the other side of the pond. I was stunned. I was expecting one or two babies not to make it, but not the momma!

That was pretty much the end to our little family. The babies were farmed out, and Dad was given a new mate, but they never really 'clicked'. Swans mate for life, and I think he never stopped grieving for his mate and his babies. The other swan families in the other ponds saw their opportunity and tormented this new couple and drove them out again and again. Once the male (I just know it was the male, that bugger) even wandered off and was found on a pond in the next neighborhood. They have survived, but it doesn't look to me like a happy union. I think they just barely tolerate each other.

Sometimes life just doesn't turn out the way you expect it to. You make your plans, you work the plan, you even think you are in control of the plan. But when 'momma dies', and your world is turned upside down, everything changes. You realize that your plan might not have been the most important thing after all. And in those moments, or days, or even years of pain and struggle and discouragement, God draws us closer to Him.

God's plans always trump our plans. And somehow, He works it out for our good and His glory.

"Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails." Proverbs 19:21