A pair of hawks has recently taken up residence here on our property. They are not the more common “Red-Tailed” species. Rather, they are the less common “Red Shouldered” variant. Either way, they are absolutely magnificent creatures who have now set about building a nest and raising their young.
Watching them day by day as I have done has allowed me to come to understand their habits and to appreciate their struggles. Indeed, I cannot count the number of times I have peered out the window as one or the other of them has mounted a branch and sat patiently hunting for a careless squirrel or rabbit.
Nor can I count the number of times I have seen one or the other of them swoop in with a mouse, a small snake, or some such creature dangling from their respective beaks, obviously intended as a meal for their burgeoning brood.
Whenever they do so, it is easy to recognize their cries as they announce their arrival to either their mate and/or their offspring. Their screeches literally fill the air for minutes on end.
On more than one occasion, as this scene has unfolded, I have been reminded of the words to a song first made popular by Burl Ives titled “Little White Duck” …
“There's a little white duck sitting in the water
Little white duck doing what he oughta
He took a bite of a lily pad
Flapped his wings and he said, "I'm glad"
That I'm a little white duck sitting in the water
Quack, quack, quack
There's a little green frog swimming in the water
Little green frog doing what he oughta
He jumped right off of the lily pad
That the little duck bit and he said, "I'm glad"
That I'm a little green frog swimming in the water
Gulp, gulp, gulp
There's a little black bug floating on the water
A little black bug doing what he oughta
He tickled the frog on the lily pad
That the little duck bit and he said, "I'm glad"
That I'm a little black bug floating on the water
Quick, quick, quick
There's a little red snake lying in the water
A little red snake doing what he oughta
He frightened the duck and the frog so bad
And he ate the little bug and he said, "I'm glad"
That I'm a little red snake lying in the water
Sss, sss, sss
And now there's nobody left sitting in the water
Nobody left doing what he oughta
Nothing left but the lily pad
The duck and the frog ran away
There's nobody left sitting in the water
Boo, hoo, hoo
Because of the snake that ate the bug
That tickled the frog, that went kerchug
There's nobody left to sing about alas and alak
Not even the little white duck
Quack, quack, quack, quack”.
Now, I grant that hawks do not make quacking noises. Instead, they screech. Nonetheless, whatever sound they make, it is obvious that whichever of the two hawks I have been variously observing this spring is still simply doing “what they oughta”!
All of this is to say that, as they go about living their daily lives, they are simply being who they are designed to be, doing what they are designed to do, and, in the process, accomplishing what they are designed to accomplish! And in this sense, they are simply glorifying the God Who created them!
But they are doing one other thing in the process. They are convicting me. Precisely because they challenge me to ask myself whether or not I am doing the same! As I observe them, I find myself asking some fundamental questions…
Am I being who I was created to be? Am I doing what I was created to do? Am I accomplishing what I was designed to accomplish? And above all, am I glorifying the God Who created me to be and to do and to accomplish for His glory?
In the New Testament Gospel of John (chapter 17, verse 4), Jesus Christ prayed His great High Priestly prayer to the Heavenly Father in which He included the following statement: “I have now glorified You on earth by accomplishing the work You gave Me to do.”
Now, I do not know if hawks can pray or not. But I do know that I myself can. Consequentially, I find myself increasingly asking whether or not I can pray the following prayer with integrity: “Lord, I can now honestly say that I have accomplished the purpose for which I ever came into this world in that I have glorified You with all I have both been and done.”
Jesus Christ could pray just such a prayer! Why? Because He did just what He alleged! The evident question for me, therefore, is: “Can I pray such a prayer?” Have I spent my life glorifying God simply by being all that He made me to be and by doing all that He made me to do?
Of course, this raises one last equally as obvious question, does it not? That question is: “Can you, yourself, pray any such prayer?!”
LYRICS SOURCE: http://www.songlyrics.com/burl-ives/the-little-white-duck-lyrics/.
SCRIPTURE SOURCE: https://biblehub.com/john/17-4.htm.
Watching them day by day as I have done has allowed me to come to understand their habits and to appreciate their struggles. Indeed, I cannot count the number of times I have peered out the window as one or the other of them has mounted a branch and sat patiently hunting for a careless squirrel or rabbit.
Nor can I count the number of times I have seen one or the other of them swoop in with a mouse, a small snake, or some such creature dangling from their respective beaks, obviously intended as a meal for their burgeoning brood.
Whenever they do so, it is easy to recognize their cries as they announce their arrival to either their mate and/or their offspring. Their screeches literally fill the air for minutes on end.
On more than one occasion, as this scene has unfolded, I have been reminded of the words to a song first made popular by Burl Ives titled “Little White Duck” …
“There's a little white duck sitting in the water
Little white duck doing what he oughta
He took a bite of a lily pad
Flapped his wings and he said, "I'm glad"
That I'm a little white duck sitting in the water
Quack, quack, quack
There's a little green frog swimming in the water
Little green frog doing what he oughta
He jumped right off of the lily pad
That the little duck bit and he said, "I'm glad"
That I'm a little green frog swimming in the water
Gulp, gulp, gulp
There's a little black bug floating on the water
A little black bug doing what he oughta
He tickled the frog on the lily pad
That the little duck bit and he said, "I'm glad"
That I'm a little black bug floating on the water
Quick, quick, quick
There's a little red snake lying in the water
A little red snake doing what he oughta
He frightened the duck and the frog so bad
And he ate the little bug and he said, "I'm glad"
That I'm a little red snake lying in the water
Sss, sss, sss
And now there's nobody left sitting in the water
Nobody left doing what he oughta
Nothing left but the lily pad
The duck and the frog ran away
There's nobody left sitting in the water
Boo, hoo, hoo
Because of the snake that ate the bug
That tickled the frog, that went kerchug
There's nobody left to sing about alas and alak
Not even the little white duck
Quack, quack, quack, quack”.
Now, I grant that hawks do not make quacking noises. Instead, they screech. Nonetheless, whatever sound they make, it is obvious that whichever of the two hawks I have been variously observing this spring is still simply doing “what they oughta”!
All of this is to say that, as they go about living their daily lives, they are simply being who they are designed to be, doing what they are designed to do, and, in the process, accomplishing what they are designed to accomplish! And in this sense, they are simply glorifying the God Who created them!
But they are doing one other thing in the process. They are convicting me. Precisely because they challenge me to ask myself whether or not I am doing the same! As I observe them, I find myself asking some fundamental questions…
Am I being who I was created to be? Am I doing what I was created to do? Am I accomplishing what I was designed to accomplish? And above all, am I glorifying the God Who created me to be and to do and to accomplish for His glory?
In the New Testament Gospel of John (chapter 17, verse 4), Jesus Christ prayed His great High Priestly prayer to the Heavenly Father in which He included the following statement: “I have now glorified You on earth by accomplishing the work You gave Me to do.”
Now, I do not know if hawks can pray or not. But I do know that I myself can. Consequentially, I find myself increasingly asking whether or not I can pray the following prayer with integrity: “Lord, I can now honestly say that I have accomplished the purpose for which I ever came into this world in that I have glorified You with all I have both been and done.”
Jesus Christ could pray just such a prayer! Why? Because He did just what He alleged! The evident question for me, therefore, is: “Can I pray such a prayer?” Have I spent my life glorifying God simply by being all that He made me to be and by doing all that He made me to do?
Of course, this raises one last equally as obvious question, does it not? That question is: “Can you, yourself, pray any such prayer?!”
LYRICS SOURCE: http://www.songlyrics.com/burl-ives/the-little-white-duck-lyrics/.
SCRIPTURE SOURCE: https://biblehub.com/john/17-4.htm.