A Cry in the Wind

I really love to chop wood.

It's one of those activities that rises to the top of my to do list when the weather is just right. Not too cold, not to hot, but rather a sunny day with a light breeze. In the winter that means a sunny 45 degree day! Perfect!

The joy of the hard labor resonates with my soul and the simplicity of the work makes me appreciate a simpler time when it was not a luxury to chop wood, but rather a matter of life and death.

But then the sky came alive as the cry pierced me.

The cry of a hawk is so powerful! When we talk about the voice of birds, we call it their song or sound, but a hawk sends out a piercing cry that demands our attention. The higher predator has arrived!

I put down my ax and searched the skies. "There they are!" Both of them.

A sunny day creates a radiating heat from the earth. These two marvelous creatures treated it like their playground as they circled high above my head. So directly above me that I almost fell over trying to look up at them!

Effortless. Majestic. Surprsingly playful with one another.

I have always considered the hawk on the telephone line surveying a freshly harvested cornfield for mice, as very serious and always on the job. Pehaps they are on the job when on the line. They also seem to be a very solitary and territorial animal. It is rare to see more than one hawk on the same line.

But today they were playing above my head on heat currents generated by the sun.

It was amazing! A gift from my God to me. Just cuz.

It made me smile and giggle a little bit.