Today, I had the pleasure of witnessing a new zebra finch (a tiny bird, common on the Australian mainland) hatch from its egg. It was amazing, miraculous, breathtaking.
With three already hatched, and a couple more eggs remaining in the nest, I want to share with you 3 lessons I learned about life:
1. There are some things in life that you don’t have a choice in. One of them is when you were born. My baby zebra finches didn’t choose the day they would open up from their eggs. But the day they came out was one which began for them a new journey. A journey which I hope so help them see to their maturity.
2. You exist in the moment right now. But there was a point in time when you didn’t exist. Without your parents, you wouldn’t be here. Cherish the time you have with them, now!
3. My baby zebra finches are blind. Their eyes are closed and I don’t think they can see very well, if at all. But I can see their mother and father busying themselves in gathering food (lettuce, grass, seed mix) and bringing it back to the nest. So when life seems all dark, be sure to know there is someone taking care of your needs every day, even though you can’t see them.
Question: Did you ever see your pets being born into this world? What was one lesson you could observe? Leave your comments below.
AsSalaamu ‘Alaykum Shaykh Ahmed,
I’ve never really had a pet myself but can definitely draw parallels between the life lessons mentioned here and the birth and growth of a human baby (not my own!). The vulnerability, fragility and the blindness mentioned is evidently a lot more pronounced in a human baby than most others in the animal kingdom.
When watching animals in the wild or on a documentary, it’s wonderful to see the young grow rapidly and become self-sufficient in a matter of months, if not weeks. Physically, this timescale is a lot shorter compared to humans as we are even more helpless and reliant on the family and the safety of home for first 5-10 years of our lives.
However, Allah has given the human superior intellect and this longer time-period of reliance has taught me many important life lessons, one of which is – good things take time.
Thank you
Wa Alaykum Assalam,
Good things take time indeed Ovi. Thank you for your input!