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A Comforter with Wings

By Anonymous

My tears were already falling, before I even opened my eyes. I had been crying nonstop for forty-seven days straight. As I walked down the stairs, I begged God to help me; I just couldn’t process the fact that my son had died. I sat down to an unwanted bowl of cereal and stared out the patio door, when suddenly, a Mourning Dove flew on to the deck banister. It made that beautiful cooing sound three times, fluffed it’s wings, and nestled itself down facing me. 

The dove was only a few feet away from me and I didn’t want to startle it, so I didn’t move. We both sat staring at each other for a long time, when it suddenly started opening and closing its beak – as if it were singing or ‘speaking’ to me in a long, silent and private conversation. It then flew over to the rooftop behind us and sat on the tip of the roof – still facing me and stayed there for most of the rest of the morning. I was immediately filled with an overwhelming feeling of calm and peace…and I stopped crying!

Now, this experience was beautiful in itself, but the most amazing thing was that from that day on, I ‘had breakfast with the dove,’ and it would also be there on our deck or on the tip of the roof top across from the back of our house throughout the day. It would just coo and sit there facing me. It was there so much that I named it after my son, and looked forward to seeing it every day.

I would hear it cooing early in the morning before I got out of bed. It sounded like it was on top of our roof, and then when I would go down to the kitchen to eat breakfast, there it would be sitting and cooing. Then one day, I saw that there were two – a male and a female. They would perch themselves on our deck, sometimes on the chairs or on the banister. I took many pictures of them as they calmed my every thought. And the calmer I got, the more peaceful I felt, and the more peaceful I felt, the more I looked forward to each day. I started really paying attention to all the beautiful birds that had now started landing on our deck and keeping me company. They seemed to remind me of all my loved ones that had gone on and were together now.

Then, as suddenly as the doves had come, one day they were gone. After not seeing either one for a few days, I thought something had happened to them, and then I saw one on top of the chimney behind us. It turned towards me, cooed three times; as if to say goodbye, for now, and then flew away. I realized that it was probably getting ready to migrate south because Fall was coming, and I would see it again. I also realized that I would see my son again, someday – when I see him in Heaven!

I never would have thought that a bird could change my life, but I truly believe in my heart that God sent me a comforter just at the moment when I needed it the most. He sent me a Mourning Dove when I was in mourning. I didn’t even know, until that happened, that it was called a ‘Mourning Dove’ and not a ‘Morning’ Dove; although it really stood for both with me. The dove is a biblical bird, and it continues to bring me comfort each and every day in the summer – yes, it did come back. I still cry for my son, but now my tears are cleansing and healing, because God wipes my eyes and covers me with comfort. As I write this, I wait for the dove to coo outside my window.

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