I like to joke that hawks are my spirit animal. I’ve had several semi-mystical encounters with them over the years.
On two of my birthdays, I’ve had close encounters with two separate hawks, in ways that felt like messages from God.
The message was something like: “take courage…have strength…fear not…”
Also, years ago now, I was sitting in a doctor’s office waiting for the door to open and biopsy results to be revealed. I gazed out the window amid anxiety and fear, to see a lone hawk perched upon the corner of an adjacent building.
She was just looking off into the distance.
And again, I heard… “take courage… have strength…fear not…”
But the most memorable moment I’ve had with a hawk was watching one deal with its own moment of crisis. As I pulled up to church after lunch one day, I looked up to see a lone hawk, being “dive bombed” by two large black crows.
It was an amazing sight. I put the car in park and sat there transfixed. Those crows were really, really mad about something. (I cannot deny that the hawk might well have been guilty.)
It was “two against one,” and they repeatedly circled and dove toward the hawk. I had no idea how the hawk could possibly get out of this situation.
But slowly, effortlessly, the hawk spiraled higher and higher into the sky. It caught the upward current of the warm breeze. It barely flapped its wings, and never pecked back and its attackers. In fact, it didn’t even seem like the hawk was paying them any attention to them at all.
It just kept going higher and higher, until it was but a mere dot in the blue Texas sky.
What happened, of course, is that the crows couldn’t go that high. It was beyond their physical capability.
The hawk got away from the crows by going HIGHER.
In Romans 12, St. Paul says: “Don’t be conformed to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds.”
I love this Common English Bible translation. It suggests there are “patterns” to this world.
The world’s patterns are earth-bound, repetitive, depressing, and fear-filled. The world would lock us into believing it will never change. The world’s patterns are filled with random violence and distrusting hearts. And it can easily feel like we’re being “pecked” to death by adversaries both outside us, and within our own hearts.
But through the Spirit of God within us, we have the capacity to be “transformed,” even amid the world’s depressing patterns of attack.
We can “go higher,” and find a way to be renewed.
Obviously, we can’t live way up in the air. We have to come back to earth. But it strikes me that our particular problem these days is being so “grounded” that we never really see beyond what is right in front of us.
We see plenty of trees, but very little forest. Our vision is clouded by endless lists of “to dos,” and the demands of life.
The hawk knows it can always “go higher.” St. Paul knew that there is spiritual wisdom that can help us transcend our earthy cares.
So, when you’re feeling especially attacked, under siege, or just stuck in the rut of every-day life, let the hawk be your guide. Don’t fall into the trap of believing that the repeating patterns of the earthbound world are all there is to your life.
Ride the upward lift of God’s Spirit, and go higher.
ERIC FOLKERTH is senior pastor of Kessler Park United Methodist Church. The Worship section is underwritten by Advocate Publishing and the neighborhood businesses and churches listed here. For information about helping support the Worship section, call 214.560.4202.
