Barn swallows build their nests from twigs, leaves and mud.  Apparently they are happy with their little dwelling place because about half return to the same site the following year.  After inspecting the nest and making any repairs, they seem content to make it their home once again.

In Psalm 84:1-3,  we read

“How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord Almighty!
My soul years, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.
Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young – a place near your altar, Lord Almighty, my King and My God.”

I’m told that in the original Hebrew, “dwelling place” means refuge or shelter from danger.  Is it any wonder that Moses who spent 40 years wandering in the wilderness said, “Lord you have been our dwelling place.”  Psalm 90:1   

We wander too.  Maybe not through the wilderness, but through upheaval, disappointment, despair, and all the evils that surround us.  Yet God is our “dwelling place.”  He will always be our permanent, unshakeable refuge.  He can uphold us and carry us through life.  

When we have strayed, we, like the swallow, can come home to our true “dwelling place.”

Thanks be to our God of unconditional love who provides such a dwelling place for you and for me.

Judy

This charming lithograph of the Swallow’s Nest was published in Die Gartenlaube in 1883.