Hawks.

God has been speaking to me through Hawks.

Red-tail Hawks.

A pair of Hawks nested at the ranch this summer.

I loved to hear their cry.

I'd be working on something or other and suddenly from way up high I'd hear the call of a

hawk and I'd stop to watch them. It was as though they lifted me out of the mundane, lifted me up, raised not just my gaze, but the gaze of my heart.

There was also the Hawk that God led me to, up on the bluff when I thought I was looking for shed antlers.

Another hock swooped overhead as Smores and I were riding one afternoon out in the sage.

He was for me a symbol of God's presence, of his freedom and beauty. A symbol of my heart, God said.

And then today God gave me a magnificent hawk, perched up on the hill above our house.

They only come and rest on that snag this time of year for a week or two as they migrate through

in the fall.

I felt God moved me after our time of prayer and journaling to go outside.

And as I did, I felt him move me to go up or look up. And there was the biggest hawk I have ever seen. I was afraid

that he wouldn't stay long enough for me to get the spotting scope but he did and

far longer than that. I watched him for about 10 minutes.

There was a moment when he looked straight down at me

and his eyes almost seemed as if they were the eyes of God.

God looking down on me. I asked him what it meant. My love. Remember, the Earth is

the Lords and everything in it, Psalm 24-1. God is speaking to us all the time. Sometimes he uses words,

other times he uses dreams, and he loves to use the ever-changing, unfolding beauty and drama and presence of his creation.

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