Dash of Sass: It’s Hard to Be a Pigeon in a Seagull World

Quotes of the Day:

I’ll tell you, there is nothing better in life than being a late bloomer. I believe that success can happen at any time and at any age. ~Salma Hayek

Girls are like apples…the best ones are at the top of the trees. The boys don’t want to reach for the good ones because they are afraid of falling and getting hurt. Instead, they just get the rotten apples that are on the ground that aren’t as good, but easy. So the apples at the top think there is something wrong with them, when, in reality, they are amazing. They just have to wait for the right boy to come along, the one who’s brave enough to climb all the way to the top of the tree. ~Unknown

To ugly ducklings everywhere,
Don’t worry about those fluffy yellow morons:
They’ll never get to be swans. ~ Zoë Marriott

The Single Woman Says:

It’s hard to be a pigeon in a seagull world.

I was at the beach with my parents recently and I got to observe some very interesting behavior in the bird world. My dad loves sitting on the beach throwing crumbs to the seagulls (you can imagine how thrilled the beach patrons who find themselves beside us are with this habit), and as we watched the sea of seagulls eagerly peck up the bread crumbs, suddenly two pigeons appeared. Pigeons, as you probably know, just sort of get a bad rap overall in the animal kingdom. They are often viewed as dumb, unattractive, annoying creatures, not really serving a purpose or adding any color and beauty to the world. And it was clear to see that in the pecking order of life, the two pigeons ranked far below the seagulls. Every time we would try and throw a crumb to the pigeons, they would miss it…be too slow to get it…get sharply chirped (scolded) at by the flock of overzealous seagulls. Not a single crumb we tossed made it into the beak of one of the pigeons. They were essentially failing at life and it was heartbreaking to watch.

Yet…

Long after the seagulls gave up and departed our section of the beach for sandier (and crumbier) pastures…the pigeons remained. They hung in there for the good fight. Stubbornly refused to give up on the hope that eventually a crumb would find its way to their beaks. And when I discovered a virtual goldmine of crumbs in a wadded up Starbucks wrapper in my beach bag…guess who was still there to get it? Yep. The pigeons. Those stubborn, hopeful, faith-filled, late-blooming pigeons. The picture you see at the top of this blog is one I snapped of the pigeons feasting on their unexpected Starbucks spread as one lone seagull stands by looking confused. The pigeons ended up getting far more crumbs that day than any of the seagulls…and why? Because of their determination to not let their pigeon status hold them back from stepping into the blessings meant for them.

Okay, so that might be a TAD dramatic since we’re discussing pigeons here…BUT…how many of us have had our share of “pigeon moments”? I know I have!  I’d venture to say that NO ONE can say they’ve never felt like a pigeon at some point in their life. Ignored. A day late and a dollar short. Too plain. Too colorless. Not as attractive as the next person. Passed over. Left out in the cold. Isn’t this how society sort of trains us to feel about ourselves, single ladies? Like something is wrong with us and inferior about us that keeps us from stepping into the love that seems to come so easily for others?

I would like to encourage you today, my beautiful fellow pigeons…to hang in there. Stand firm. Set your face like flint and decide right now that you are no longer going to be bullied by the seagulls of life. You are no longer going to agree with what the world has to say about you. You are going to get on board with what YOU know about you…the beautiful, strong, faithful woman God created you to be. Your feast is coming. You won’t have to fight for it. You won’t have to beg for it. You just have to show up, stand confident in who you are, and CLAIM it! The blessing might not come as fast as you would have wanted or in the way you might have pictured…but it’s coming! And it’s even bigger and better than you ever imagined!

And if you find that you still need a little help along the way…that’s exactly why I wrote my new book. So us pigeons could reclaim our seagull status. And even celebrate our unique pigeon-ness as we go along. Because the thing is…when you get really close to a pigeon, you start to see that what the world thinks about them and says about them has very little to do with who they really are. They have beautiful brilliantly-colored feathers woven in with their understated gray ones. Delicate features. And spirits that refuse to be defeated. I don’t know about you…but that makes me rather proud to be a pigeon.

Grab your copy of my book, The Single Woman: Life, Love, & a Dash of Sass anywhere books are sold.

Have you ever had a “pigeon moment”? Comment below!