Road (of Life) signs...

I read that last night the full moon was closer to the Earth than it has been since 1993, making it look 14% larger and 30% brighter. According to the director of the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, CA, “Typically we don't have the full moon phase and perigee (the position of an object at its least distance from Earth) coinciding at the same time, so that makes (last night’s) event particularly special.”

This morning, the program at church focused on transcendence in the Native American culture. The speaker described several interesting occurrences during some notable tribal events: a bald eagle appearing out of nowhere to fly over a respected tribal leader during a talk he was giving; two hawks playfully chasing after one another and circling over a couple at the end of their Native American wedding ceremony.

The idea of the natural world sending signs to mark auspicious times isn’t a new one in any culture and is probably almost as old as the first time a human being gazed up at a full moon.

After church, while eating a late lunch, Kurt and I happened to glance outside my kitchen window to see a red-tailed hawk circle lazily over the river and land in a tree along my riverbank. It floated so slowly on the air currents, perfectly centered outside my window and so close to my house, that we could clearly see not just its reddish tail feathers, but the white, dark gray, and ochre markings under its wings.

And, with the morning’s discussion in mind, I now wonder what notable event its aerial pirouette may portend…