It may seem like a not so distant memory but during the initial pandemic lockdown when the world around us seemed so quiet, our residential neighborhoods began seeing wildlife that seemingly had disappeared into the remaining woods. Now it seems that as the habitat for Sandhill cranes continues to shrink, the cranes have decided that our urban neighborhoods are hospitable.
Sandhill cranes have been a very long time; the oldest fossil dates to 2.5 million years. In the early 1900s, they faced extinction, primarily due to hunters and habitat loss, but they have bounced – or, hatched – back.. Beautiful and graceful, they breed in areas like Wisconsin and Ontario and fly to the southwest and Mexico in the winter.
We don’t see them here in the East but just knowing that they still exist and are now actually flourishing should give us a sense of the wonder of these magnificent birds. Now, for our local wildlife we see the occasional fox early in the morning, the deer eating our hostas, and hope the occasional stray bear makes it back to the woods where God intended it should live.
Prayer for the Day
God of all surprises, your creation manifests itself in so many ways,
The fox or wild goose where we least expected to see them;
Deepen our awareness of your Eternal Spirit,
Made known to us through the totality of your creation;
May we always be open to the beauty of the earth
By caring for all your creatures where we find them.
In the name of the One who calls us to care,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen
Thoughts for the Day
I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting station, through which God speaks to us every hour, if we will only tune in.
George Washington Carver, American agricultural scientist (1864-1943)
While I know myself as a creation of God, I am also obligated to realize that everyone else and everything else are also God’s creation.
Maya Angelou, American poet (1928-2014)
The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it,
The world, and those who live in it;
For God has founded it on the seas,
And established it on the rivers.
Psalm 24: 1-2