Looking Back at Cranes

Cranes. 
Looking back in my journal I found an entry March 31, 2010.
I've posted lots of art and photos lately ~ but not from the depths of my journals for quite awhile.  I'm feeling called to share today out of that depth, out of the authenticity of my personal writings, to be risky in that.  Because somebody else needs to be encouraged in their own authenticity. 

Birds are a theme of my life.  A delight.  Leading me to lessons...so here's my journal on cranes...

Last day of March...my baby is 3...her first Easter egg hunt...she naps.

The cranes are returning...another sound of spring that causes my heart to ache.  Why is it that the sounds of spring...the robins, meadowlarks, the cranes, geese and frogs surface this ache, this longing in my heart.  A home-sick feeling.  I am aching in my spirit, longing.  For what?

Lord, I look up at the cranes.  They are in a cyclical formation like a tornado going nowhere all flapping furiously, frantically expending all sorts of noise and energy, yet it seems going nowhere.

I'm searching for something in all of this.  This spring.  This ache.  This feeling like I'm circling, but not going anywhere.

And then I sense this as I write . . .

They can be silly in their wing-flapping circles and yet they still do get somewhere.  They get distracted and start going in circles.  But then they get their bearings and go again.  They all are looking for someone to follow--for someone to just take the lead...not really wanting to be the leader and yet not really trusting anyone else to be the leader either.

Leading can be lonely, exhausting, scary and uncertain, but it also can be really living out in the front--life and wind all hitting you square in the face--with the view clear and unhindered. 

"What if nobody follows?" is a thought.
"What if I go the wrong way?"
"What if some follow and I lead everyone off course?"

And yet, perfectly imperfect the cranes still get somewhere--they still get going in that northward direction and find their spring~summer nesting grounds.  And so can you.

And like the cranes, there are times for flying and times for nesting.  There are times of flying in circles wondering who to follow and times to just break out and be the leader calling others over your shoulder to "come north".  And if no one follows, double back and reassure them that "it's ok, come on, we are heading north, I can feel it."

Copyright 2010.  Jodene (Jodi) Shaw

{The photo is of geese over our ranch...the cranes were too far away for my camera to reach...and ironically, as slow as they appeared to be moving in their confusion, they were too fast as well.)