Daily Signet

Earlier this week, walking in our neighborhood, in the middle of suburban Denver, homes with lawns all around, a hawk alighted about 30 feet ahead across the street. And said, “Behold!” And we stopped and beheld—soles of our feet gripping God’s earth firmly, time stopping, all else fading into background; as if Moses’ burning bush, the hawk, clear and foreground. Behold!

Credit Jack Seeds on Unsplash

The hawk plumped and fluffed its tail in a puddle made by the sprinklers. Then it shook itself and hopped to one side, a little into the sprinkler spray and fluffed again. Then it looked at and through us, and around us. After an eternal moment, an iPod, ear-phoned man with a dog walked across the street. The dog saw the hawk. The hawk flew away. The man beheld nothing. The hawk—a burning bush. I carried that hawk and the feeling of attentive eternity through the rest of the work day, as God sparkled in every person I met and some even brought pearls...while the “stuff” was background.                                                         

Ben Leichtling

On This Day…

Toshigoi: Shinto day of prayers to the Kami for an abundant rice crop