Don's Blog Great Blue Heron 10-16-24

Recently I was at our lake house in Warren County. I was standing on our back deck

when a Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) waded by our beach. His very majesty took my breath away.

Great blue herons are the largest of the North American herons. They eat fish that they see. This heron

kept on walking until he was out of sight. He may be still walking. Seeing this magnificent bird created 

one of those  miracles that are constantly available in nature.

This experience is described in a recent blog from a friend.

"We are starved for the glory of God, not self. No one goes to the Grand Canyon to increase self-esteem.Why

do we go? Because there is a greater healing for the soul in beholding splendor than there is in beholding self.

—John Piper

In such moments of splendor in nature there is a healing that occurs. Healing is from the German "Heilen" which is to make whole. In these moments we are made whole and the self actually disappears. This oneness of being whole, being one, is why these moments  are meaningful to us.