“What is Life ? It is the flash of a firefly in the night.
It is the breath of a buffalo in the winter time.
It is the little shadow which runs across the grass
and loses itself in the Sunset.”
-Crowfoot
I woke up to the cry of a hawk this morning. It sounded closer than I had ever heard a hawk’s song before, so I scooped up my three-year-old son, ran outside, and looked up, only to see a red-tailed hawk perched upon the highest tree before me. He looked down at us for a moment, cried again, spread his wings, and glided off into the sky. That moment when I looked up at him and he looked down at me … that was my church service for this stunning summer Sunday. That moment brought me closer to God, to the present moment, and to the fullness of life than any church service ever could.
When I spent a week with my late dear friend, Paul Schultz, at his home on the White Earth Reservation in Minnesota, he made a habit of stopping and honoring the hawks every time they soared above us. He told me that their presence was sacred, that loved ones who crossed over looked after us through such animals. It’s no surprise, then, that I thought of Paul as I looked up at that great hawk, that I felt the presence of my father, of my dear friend Paul, of beloved animals that have passed away over the years. It was a moment that took me out of this material reality and showed me, for that split second, the un-selfconscious amazingness of the world above and beyond what we sense here.
My passion for hawks, the chills I feel every single time I hear a hawk cry out, the urgent desire I feel to share moments like that with someone I love, the unencumbered appreciation I feel for the hawk’s sheer beauty … this is my “religion”.
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When a Hawk means Message… crying or screeching at you it is a sign to heighten your awareness, or is a message for a warning to pay attention to something. A change is coming.
Very nice. I have an acquaintance who is married to a well-known artist who recently had a retrospective done at the National Art Gallery. He is also a fisherman. They live in the Pacific Northwest. When he fishes for salmon, he performs a ritual cleaning of the first kill to honor the sacrifice of the fish. I should note he lives a very self-sufficient lifestyle, raising his own food, fishing for protein, using all natural materials or nature to heat and cool his home. The connection to the world, I envy; I envy also your connection to the spiritual world. Thank you.
To stand in awe of a hawk is just as much to stand in awe in the presence of the Creator. Beautiful. Sharon
Thanks for sharing.Lovely!