The Master of Waiting

This morning there was a broad-winged hawk sitting on the back fence.  I kept an eye on him while I was busy in the kitchen and after an hour realized he must be patiently waiting for the little chipmunk that travels back and forth from the shed to the bird feeders.

Yesterday two bloggers I follow had written on the art of waiting,  “The Path of Waiting” and “Relaxed Resistance” so I was already contemplating the practice of mindful waiting.   Now here I am watching the patience of the hunter in action.  The only movement was the turning of his head almost in a complete circle.  I noticed there were no birds at the feeders, there were no small critters running around, all probably waiting for him to leave.  Two hours went by, he had not moved and continued to wait.

I became interested in what type of hawk this was, so I called up my bird app and stood at the window with binoculars identifying markings, reading about its habits and what it eats.  When I glanced down at my tablet, I heard a thump, looked up and saw a red cardinal hit the window. Coming up behind the cardinal was the hawk showing a huge wing span and within two feet of me grabbed it with both feet and flew off.  He carried it to the fence, landed for a moment, then took off into the woods.

A two-hour wait would have seemed excessive to me but I’m sure the hawk didn’t have to worry about keeping a clear mind, being anxious with anticipation or have any impatient thoughts about when this would be over ….all he had to do was wait.

I had just watched the master of waiting, the champion of patience and his reward….but my heart went out to the cardinal.