Articles
Red Shouldered Hawk
R E F L E C T I O N S
Thoughts on nature and the Christian faith - 2/28/22
"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for
righteousness, for they shall be satisfied."
- Mt. 5:6
Photographing hawks is especially difficult because they are so wary. Seeing them perched in trees or on telephone lines is easy, but approaching them close enough to get a good image is a different story. So how was I able to get this close to a red-shouldered hawk as it was landing? Well, a telephoto lens helps as does hiding in a photography blind, but how did I know that I had a good chance of catching a hawk landing so close to me? The answer is that I relied on a basic drive that motivates all creatures - hunger. I found a deer that had been hit by a car on a road near our home and transported it to our property with the help of my long-suffering wife Jo. Then I put up my blind and waited. Eventually this hawk came in and settled in the top of a nearby tree. It waited and waited, reluctant to land on the forest floor. But its desire for food eventually overcame its caution and I captured this image as it landed. We, like this hawk, are driven by basic desires such as hunger and thirst. They demand satisfaction. And so do our spiritual desires. Man innately needs what God alone can satisfy. We know we are not righteous beings, even though we pretend we are, and all of the things we do that we consider righteous are, as scripture reminds us, nothing but filthy rags. We hunger for what we do not have and cannot attain. That hunger and thirst is satisfied in only one place, in the righteousness of another who credits his righteousness to our account when we receive it by faith. This is the promise of the gospel, that if we hunger and thirst for righteousness we will be satisfied. If you hunger you will be fed. - John
Share Online
