One summer, when I was about 10, my Aunt Barb took me to the Omaha Zoo. 

It’s a great zoo, and I remember the whole day was awesome! And, because I was on vacation, my Aunt Barb let me eat things that my mom didn’t usually allow me to eat — which made me feel like the luckiest girl in town! We wandered around the zoo for hours that day, and everything we did made me smile. We hit all of the exhibits, and we saw every creature and critter in the place. It was a pretty memorable day.

When it was finally time for us to leave the zoo, we only had one more stop: the bird sanctuary. 

It was set up in this huge barn, and everywhere you looked, there were birds fluttering, chirping and strutting around. To be frank, I don’t really like birds that much; they aren’t cuddly or all that friendly, and they smell weird — like air mixed with moss or something mildewy. However, seeing that many birds all in one location was indeed impressive.

But as we were exiting the barn, out of nowhere, a huge plop of something thick and wet fell on the side of my head. The blob slid down my hair, and then ended up on my shoulder.

It was bird poop. A huge, smelly, sticky, slimy plop of bird poop. Yuck.

One of the bird sanctuary attendants took immediate notice of my situation, and dashed over with a wet wipe and a huge smile on her face. 

“Oh my! Did you know it’s good luck to have a bird poop on your head?” she asked.

No. I did not know that.

In general, I tend to be pretty optimistic most of the time, but lucky bird poop is a huge stretch for me. I really can’t see how poop on your head from any animal can bring you good fortune. It’s just plain disgusting — and as one who would know, pretty tricky to get out of your hair.

However, I can concede that sometimes, a negative thing can be the set up for something positive. And, I can believe that sometimes, a terrible moment precedes a wonderful chain of events that proves that there really is some kind of poetry and rhyme in the way that life’s details connect. 

So when I look back on certain terrible seasons of my life with perspective and hindsight, I can see how one awful thing opened up the way for something good to enter the picture. I recognize with clarity now how some of my worst circumstances changed who I am, and how I see the world — and these changes have helped me find more understanding, forgivenes, and joy in my life. God seems to drop unexpected life lessons of every kind “onto my shoulder” that could take me down, but instead, they always seem lift me up in due time.

But at this particular point in my life journey, bird poop was just bird poop…

And it was everywhere I looked.