We Draw Strength from Nature

A Bald Eagle that was feeding on the ground suddenly rises up. With two powerful strokes, its massive wings carry it high into a tree, where it lands and looks down. Nature is impersonal, but we feel a connection, don't we? How can we not draw strength from wild creatures we admire?

BirdNote^®

We Draw Strength from Nature

Written by Chris Peterson

This is BirdNote.
[Begin music and run selections throughout]
I went to visit an old friend yesterday, a carpenter who’s been in the hospital for months. His muscles have wasted away, and he’s struggling to start the long road back to strength.
I was eager to tell him about a rare encounter. “Remember the big-leaf maple that stands where my driveway enters the woods? Well, the ground slopes there, behind the trunk. Today, when I went by, I startled a Bald Eagle that was feeding on the ground. Suddenly, it rose up from the depths, right in front of me. [Pause for music ] With two powerful strokes, its massive wings carried it high into that maple, where it landed and looked down at me.”
My friend’s eyes glowed as I spoke. Then he grasped a one-inch dowel lying by his bedside. With both hands, ever so slowly, he lifted his arms, in tandem, up, up, over his head.
I know that nature is impersonal, but we feel a connection, don’t we? How can we not draw strength from wild creatures we admire?
Lift your wings, my friend.
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Selections from Vox Balaenae for Three Masked Players. Composed in 1971 by George Crumb and recorded 2003 CBC Glenn Gould Studio as part of the American Classics, New Music Concerts Ensemble – Robert Aiken. © 2006 Naxos Rights International Ltd. Made in Canada. www.naxos.com. Used with permission.
Producer: John Kessler
Executive Producer: Chris Peterson
© 2013 Tune In to Nature.org

ID# connection-01-2009-06-18-MM