Great Blue Heron
John Miller
05/12/21
- Windstream Mail
R E F L E C T I O N S Thoughts on nature and the Christian faith - 5/10/21 __________________________________________________________________________ "Though you wash yourself with lye and use much soap, the stain of your guilt is still before me, declares the Lord God." - Jer. 2:22 |
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You never know what you will see when you sit in a photography blind in the natural world for hours. I recently erected my blind before sunrise in the backwaters of a local lake and waited for some wood ducks I had seen previously to make their way past me. The sun came up but no ducks appeared. Some red-winged blackbirds provided the only background noise I heard. I observed a female Canada goose on her nest in the distance for awhile, and then came the unmistakable honking sound of a heron. This great blue heron glided silently past me and landed on a dead tree limb close to my blind. It then began preening, and preening, and preening for the better part of an hour. This heron checked and prodded every part of its body, rearranging feathers, removing parasites, and covering itself with preen, an oil that aides in water-proofing. When it finally finished it must have been the cleanest heron in Ohio. Birds preen because they have to. We preen because we want to. If we only could put on the right perfume or deodorant we could cover up the smell we dislike. If only we could buy the finest clothing we could improve our outward appearance. If only we could practice the correct social behaviors we could fool people into thinking we are better than we know we are. And if only we could practice the right religious trappings perhaps we could even fool God himself. The truth is, God can't be fooled and our guilt can't be removed by anything we do. Admitting this to ourselves and to God is the first step toward salvation. What is needed for our cleansing has already been accomplished. It just has to be accepted. - John
