Several people, knowing my affection for cardinals, have posted photos of cardinals to my facebook page.
I am very fond of cardinals… God used them to speak to me during a difficult time in our marriage. I had a dream early in the summer of 1997. I dreamed I was a bumble bee and Bill was an eagle. I was hopeless and despairing that we were so unequally matched and incompatible. All I wanted was for us to be like a pair of cardinals in my dream. I awoke crying. Bill was with me. He was struggling in our marriage, too, and we were trying hard to work through it all. It would take a few more months and a lot of work, but we eventually got through it. That summer a pair of cardinals made a nest in our backyard. I was at home one day and saw the male flying back and forth from our feeder to a fledging sitting on the stucco fence with seeds from our bird feeding platform. I would see the pair of cardinals and their fledging off and on for the rest of the summer and fall. In my mind, they were a sign of God’s redemptive work, bringing peace, companionship, commitment and faithfulness, and joy. I cannot see a cardinal without thanking God for them and for comforting me through them that summer.