Into the Woods: Wildlife

"There, on the inner cliffs where humbled creatures meet to see what can't be seen and know what can't be known, we spread our arms like hawks to taste the ancient air." --Mark Nepo

This hawk appeared in our woods yesterday.  This morning I read the above quote by Mark Nepo.  He was talking about humility and that it comes from the word humus--the soil.  He says that humility "gives us a connection with everything older than we are and so, provides us with a calming perspective outside of our daily worries, and often beyond our understanding."  He uses the imagery of hawks after seeing them at the Puye Cliffs in New Mexico....

After climbing to the top his companion remarked, "How beautifully insignificant we are...."  Nepo writes, "The wind grew stronger, whipping in the little holes where native spirits lived, and they began to sing beneath the wind, and I thought of Carl Jung confessing that only in terms of the centuries did his life have meaning, and I realized that everyone who ever sought the truth of spirit has lived like this, looking out from their dark hollowed cave onto the majesty of all there is."

I feel humbled that this majestic bird would visit my woods.  I wonder if it is the same one that visited my deck last year which, incidentally, was one year ago today....

Is he beckoning me to spread my arms and "taste the ancient air" as he does?  Trusting that the air current will keep me aloft?  Looking down upon all that is below and beyond realizing how insignificant I am in the scheme of things?  

I have just recalled the dream I had last night....I was at the top of a hill.  There were steps and landings leading down to bottom in one long straight line where my car was parked, but my feet did not touch the steps as I descended.  Instead I glided downward, feeling the buoyancy of the wind lifting me as I moved toward my goal.

Father, it takes a great deal of trust to step out onto something you can not see or touch.  But just like the hawk who has an inborn need to fly, I, too, feel an inborn need to trust that You are the wind beneath my wings.  Reminding me how beautifully insignificant I am without You will be all the lift I need.

Link to scripture:  Psalm 17:8

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