For three days in a row I have beheld one of the most amazing spectacles known to man. Something so amazing and simple it seems unnatural...almost weird in fact. As I have been slugging and plodding up and down the hills I hike in, sweat dripping into and burning my eyes...lungs trying to explode for lack of air...feet pounding like a pile driver ramming a log into the earth...I have seen a beautiful hawk doing a delicate dance gliding in and out and up and down over the ridge. With just the slightest adjustments of his wings, he moves effortlessly along the ridge line scouring the earth for food. When he spots a field mouse or a gopher, he adjusts his wings and his body and he dives without a sound and snatches his lunch and keeps moving over the ridge to his nest.
It is an amazing spectacle to watch. To see something so amazing without the slightest of effort. Like watching Eric Clapton play some mean and tasty licks on his Fender without the slightest of effort. Like watching Kelly Slater drop in and ride an amazingly difficult wave with just a flick of his feet and ankles...seemingly no movement at all. None of them can compare though to the gracefulness and skill of this hawk...truly a sight to behold.
It is easy for us who slog and plod along on the trails to wish we could float along just catching the updrafts off the ridges. It seems unfair and in someways almost cruel. Like those who try their very best to play like Eric or surf like Kelly...only to recognize they are so far away from that kind of skill it only leaves one conclusion...they have some kind of a gift we don't...us regular Joes. Why can't I do those things like they do...life is so cruel.
Upon further review, it becomes clear that even the hawk had to practice to be so skillful it looks effortless. There is a gentle cooperation between the One who provides the wind, and the one who adjusts his wings to conform to the wind and changing environs of the hills I like to hike in. The two seem to work together as one...effortlessly. Moving in tandem...together as one...as I plod along in amazement wishing and hoping I could float on the breeze He brings me as well.
