Making Room for God to Move

I’ve had a hummingbird feeder sitting in my gardening shed for the past couple of years. I love watching the birds out my kitchen window, feasting on the seed we fill our large feeder with, and have fond memories of our hummingbird feeder as a kid. I can remember helping mix up the sugar water, adding the red food coloring to attract the tiny birds, and then watching them appear out of nowhere, drawn like moths to a flame. They’d flit around the feeder, wings a blur,  drinking their fill before flying off. After a few rare sightings in our yard over the years, I decided it was time to get my own feeder, so I went to Lowes and purchased a pretty one made of red glass. Then onto the shelf it went.

I didn’t mean for it to end up collecting dust. The shelf was supposed to be temporary. The landscaping wasn’t finished yet. I needed to find the perfect spot. The trees were all too far away to be able to see it from the house, so I probably needed a shepherd’s hook to hang it close to a window. I think I had one of those somewhere…    

Literal years passed, and I’d occasionally see it sitting there and think to myself I really ought to get that hung up somewhere. And then I’d go about whatever it was I was in the middle of. Last week, I saw a hummingbird in my mother-in-law’s yard, a small prompt that reminded me again of the forgotten feeder. This time, it was enough to motivate me to just get the darn thing hung. I didn’t know where the hook was, so I went and bought a new one. I didn’t have the pre-made nectar mix, so I looked up the recipe to make it myself. I decided on a spot and stuck it out there–it could always be moved if I didn’t end up liking that location. Then I wondered, How long is it going to take for the hummingbirds to find the feeder? What if there aren’t actually any more out there?

It took all of a couple hours. That same afternoon, the first hummingbird hovered over my feeder, and since then, not a day has passed without multiple visits from our new little friends. The kids and I watch with wonder, small joys that we wouldn’t have had had I not finally gotten over the hurdles and created the opportunity for us to witness them.

It made me wonder if there are things that God has wanted to do for me or through me that He’s just been waiting for me to take the first step. What has He wanted to do for or through you? What has been set aside or placed on the shelf because of not being ready, it not being the right time, whatever reason we’ve told ourselves? What small nudges has He been giving us, encouraging us to make a move?  Because I think sometimes, like the birds, He’s just waiting for the opportunity. What would we see God do if we made a little room?