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Red-shouldered Hawk
R E F L E C T I O N S
Thoughts on nature and the Christian faith
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"Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor
reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father
feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?" - Mt. 6:26
I was watching this raccoon carcass from the shelter of my photography blind for several hours, waiting for something to come and feed on it. Eventually, this red-shouldered hawk flew down and began to feed. The location of the raccoon was not ideal since it was in a rather dense forested region of our property. Birds of prey prefer to land in places that are more open so that they can see that there is no danger nearby. But, I guess if you are a hawk and you are hungry enough, you take whatever is available. Hawks obviously don't grow their own food or do anything to produce it. They have to rely on whatever God provides for them. And, as this scriptures says, we are of more value than birds. So, why do we worry about having what we need to survive when God has promised to provide all that we truly need? My guess is that we sometimes don't get what we want. Wants and needs are not the same thing. God will give us what we need, but sometimes withholds what we want because what we want can often be detrimental to our spiritual growth. One of the worse things God can do is to give us everything we ask for. We need to learn to concentrate our feeding on what we really need. And what we really need goes far beyond mere physical food. What we need is to draw closer to God, to learn more of who he is and what he desires for those whom he has redeemed. We learn of these things primarily through scripture. That is how he most often communicates with us, but today biblical knowledge seems to be at an all time low. We can't grow, or even survive, without feeding on the word of God. It is what we need and is also what God has promised to provide. Learn what this hawk already knows - when God provides something you need, feed on it. - John
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