Waiting for the Wind

I spent an hour this morning watching a hawk circle the field behind my house. It didn’t seem to be hunting or going anywhere in particular. It just hung there, suspended in the air, letting the invisible currents do all the heavy lifting. I found myself feeling a little envious. My own week has been a frantic scramble of emails, grocery lists, and half-finished projects. I am constantly flapping my wings, trying to gain altitude, while the bird just trusts the sky to hold it up. It made me wonder if we spend too much of our lives fighting the air instead of learning how to ride it. We are so afraid of falling that we forget how to glide. When was the last time you stopped trying to force your way forward and just let the day carry you for a while?

Laria Saunders captured this feeling perfectly in her image titled California Vulture. It shows a moment of such quiet command amidst the vastness of the coast. Does seeing this creature in flight make you want to slow down, too?