Listen to the
Spirit
“Pursue
some path, however narrow and crooked, in which you can walk with
love and reverence.”
Henry
David Thoreau
I'm going off the grid
for the rest of this week. I'll be at the Wild Goose Festival in Hot
Springs, NC recharging my batteries. Hopefully, when I return, you
will be the beneficiaries of whatever I soak up from the host of
spiritual teachers there.
For now, however, I am
greatly distracted by the pair of smallish hawks, perhaps newly fledged nestlings, who are working the
oaks around me. I love the way the whole ecosystem wakes up when
their shrill whistle screes through the air. All the small birds
begin the chorus of alarm; the crows squawk and yell, squirrels run for cover, and
mockingbirds dive-bomb and peck them. The hawks duck and dodge, but
they do not attack back, which I find interesting. The hawks seem too
focused on their goal of finding easy breakfast amid the bird and
squirrel nests in these trees to bother with pesky mockingbirds. Even
Liza becomes alert when she hears the ruckus. She looks at me with a
question in her eyes that asks, “What's going on?” Of course, I explain.
I realize that being able
to observe the lifestyle of hawks is a luxury. I'm not a scientist;
hawk research is not my job. It is simply my passion. Don't ask me
why. Most people resent their presence in the same way they resent
the presence of coyotes in this urban neighborhood. I am heartened by
the idea that wild things live here, and have adapted to life in the
city. What choice do they have? Humans have encroached on every
square inch of their habitat—so now they're encroaching our ours.
Fair enough.
I know you're busy, but I
hope you have the time to listen to the birds. Thoreau wrote in
Walden, “It is not enough to be busy; so are the ants. The
question is: What are we busy about?” It's a good question. The
greatest assets of life are not kept in banks, but in the human
spirit. And that spirit is shared by all God's creatures. Listen in
and be blessed. See you in a few days.
In the Spirit,
Jane
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