Meet Our House Guests
️⚡️ BLOT:
Our fowl house guests reminded me: God always provides!
Reflect: Are you motivated by passion, purpose, or profit? There’s no wrong answer.
I was outside, taking my morning coffee with a splash of sunshine, when suddenly…
I saw something move out of the corner of my eye.
At first glance, I feared it was a large rodent or opossum burrowing in the dirt. Ew.
I set down my cinnamon-turmeric-cappuccino to take a closer look.
A blob of speckled feathers in tan and cream.
Then the male hopped off the female, and my confusion dissipated.
Two quail—mating!
Wait, quail? Confused again.
Our backyard is a happy playground for striking cardinals, proud blue jays, cooing doves, and industrious woodpeckers.
But, quail? That’s a first…
Fascinated, I grabbed my phone and filmed them as they poked around and pecked at bugs in the more—shall we say—naturally landscaped corners of our yard.
Just when I thought they had both disappeared, frightened by a passing garbage truck, a loud trill startled me.
A couple feet to my right, the tiny yet confident male emerged from the brush.
His stracciatella mate had fled to our neighbor’s yard, and he was calling loudly for her.
Stracciatella is the name of an Italian cheese and soup, but it also refers to a milky-white gelato speckled with chocolate shavings. It used to be a childhood favorite of mine, and it looks like this one rolled around in a tub of it.
I tried to help Pip and Genevieve reconnect (don’t ask me—it’s how they introduced themselves!) by directing Pip to the opening in our fence, and eventually they found each other.
But besides P & G’s fluffy cuteness, here’s why this unexpected visit brought me joy:
I had been praying while sipping my coffee.
Not a focused and intense prayer, more just the sitting with God kind.
The kind where something’s on your heart, and you know that God knows that you know that he knows, without even having to articulate it.
Because it’s something you’ve prayed about before. And even if you hadn’t… he’d know.
So, still groggy, I was thinking about purpose (as it pertains to work) and was confiding in God that I could use some.
(Not in a dire, depressed way—c’mon.)
But I was asking for purpose-driven clarity and focus, because when you work for yourself, it’s easy to question whether you’re spending your time wisely.
Then the quail showed up…
(So, naturally, I spent 40+ minutes watching them, Googling types of quail, and even posting in a Facebook birding group. I’ll tell you what the experts said at the end of this email.)
As I was rinsing out my coffee mug, still wondering what the heck quail were doing in my backyard, it dawned on me.
🐦 Quail are a symbol of God’s provision! 🐦
Tyler and I have been reading our way chronologically through the Bible this year, and we recently made it into the promised land (thank GOD, because I was really tired of wandering that damn desert).
But it wasn’t long ago that we read Exodus chapter 13 and Numbers chapter 11.
I smiled, remembering that when the Israelites grumbled because apparently the miraculous manna bread had lost its luster, God responded by blanketing the earth with more quail than they knew what to do with.
So, today, God sent me two quail cuties to assure me he’ll provide the purpose!
And purpose is what motivates me. What motivates you?
Is it primarily:
Passion?
Purpose?
Or profit?
There’s no wrong answer.
xx, Stef
🪶 P.S. Two days later, Pip & Genevieve are still here. I’m glad they feel at home, ‘cause I’m enjoying their company.
🪶 🪶 P.P.S. The Facebook bird experts tell me these are captive quail (like the kind people raise for meat or eggs), so one of our neighbors is probably out looking for them. 😂
