Pursuit

 I awoke this morning to the sound of the crow alarm.  They had discovered a young red tail hawk in its overnight perch and they were zealously mobbing it.  Most of the time this lasts just a few minutes and the sleepy owl or annoyed hawk is driven to take flight and flee.  Today was a bit different.  There were twice as many crows as usual it seemed and so the sound of their ' caw, caw, caw' was loud and close, but the hawk was not being easily intimated. Its roost above the water was just beyond my window so as I pulled myself from sleep to the crow's fierce cries, I could see them swarming through the spring leaves of the trees. They were in a frenzy of pursuit, chasing the hawk, who was just as determined to hold it's ground, from tree to tree.  Back and forth, around and around, in and out of the tree tops they went in the early light of day.  The lake surface was gleaming, the sun's light concentrated by the encroaching black of thunderstorms moving in from the west.

What a familiar scenario.  Haven't we all been either the hawk or the crow?  Aren't there times in all of our lives when we feel that we have every right to be where we are and everyone around us thinks we do not?  And, haven't there also been moments when we are filled with zeal in our pursuit of what we feel to be a very real threat to our way of life or dreams?  Back and forth we go as well.

In the language of symbols, hawks are seen as messengers. It's cry was a signal to heighten awareness and be open to receiving a message, to 'be--aware' of how a given situation is seen from the distance of perspective. Crows are revered in many cultures for their wisdom. They are the keepers of the sacred law which is not the same as human law. Their appearance was a signal to remember there exists a higher order of right and wrong beyond the range of human law from which true integrity arises.

Tomorrow begins the most holy days of the Christian Easter. This powerful event is full of  hawks and crows in every stage of development.  It is the universal story told in every faith, of human beings grappling with zeal and perspective, struggling to understand the possibility that there could be a law beyond their own human capacity to create, and with the message that human life might have a much wider and broader meaning than we have allowed ourselves to ever consider. Back and forth, back and forth, both sides wrestle as events move everyone towards the opportunity for transformation.
 
I am wondering this morning, that perhaps this is the great work for all of us. We want our world to be perfect and we have separated ourselves by the means we feel that can happen, while all around us we are being called to fall back, to look up and beyond.  In the grip of our determination and pursuit we are not able to see the opportunity for transformation is encountered through a mystery we may not control or delegate or enforce on anyone. Something to wonder about perhaps in the coming days.

Easter Blessings