This little guy is a Black-Crowned Night Heron baby. We ran across him on the Niagara river a couple summers ago. We have a lot of herons along our creek here but this kind stays mostly to our west and north. As we walked up the path, he was less and less happy with our presence and crept out to the edge of his log. He seems to be considering whether we are worse than the river. We backed off at this point because we felt badly about scaring him.
Doesn’t he look like he is contemplating the unknown? Looking into a future that is uncertain and daunting? I know how he feels.
I love Philippians. It contains some of my favorite verses – verses that I treasure and look to over and over in my life. And in praying through scriptures I often return to Phil. 1:3-9.
3 I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, 4 always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy, 5 for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ; 7 just as it is right for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart, inasmuch as both in my chains and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers with me of grace. 8 For God is my witness, how greatly I long for you all with the affection of Jesus Christ.
9 And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, 10 that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, 11 being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
They speak so eloquently of the fellowship of belonging to God and seem especially appropriate when I am feeling separated from people I love. Going to come in handy over the next year I think.
What a forlorn picture. I just love cranes, especially blue herons but that must have been a really cool thing to see.
I love that scripture too. I find it comforting that the work God does in our lives even though it may be painful while slogging through it, will be completed as a good work in our lives and all to His glory.