Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Honking Geese


Geese honk when they fly overhead on their migratory treks to and from Canada. Southbound honks echo into the autumn skies with a plaintive sound, reminding me that the glory days of summer are over, the warmth of fall quicky expiring.

But this time of year, the loud cacophony in the northbound lanes sounds happy and hopeful to me. It says Spring!

Very occasionally, a pair of low-flying birds is silent, and I can hear the powerful whoosh of their wings against the air as they pass. But mostly these joyful, discordant crowds are above the trees where the din of their nasal honks drowns quiet wing strokes.

I wondered why geese nearly always honk when they fly, so I did a little internet search.



Now you know.

6 comments:

Erica said...

I love it!

Sheila said...

When they head on up, send a little note for me with them! :)

Love the cartoon. :D

God bless,
Sheila

Anonymous said...

Yay! Great post Mom! It encouraged me :)

Miss Alice said...

OK, Sheila, I've sent my message. But I don't know HOW you're ever going to find the right goose, or how he's going to find you. So, in case you never get the note - I copied it straight out of Hebrews 10:39 - you can look it up there if you like. :)

Shannon said...

:) Actually, as soon as I started reading this post, I was taken back to a children's word someone did in our meetings here a while back. She talked about geese and then applied it to the Body of Christ. I'm not sure where she got all her info, but she said the geese honk to encourage each other in their flight. They take turns being the lead fly-er so that no one goose gets too tired (the leader is breaking the wind and making it easier for the others to fly). They fly in a V so that they can see the geese ahead of them (also part of the wind thing). If one goose gets tired or injured and has to land, another goose will land with them and stay with the tired/injured goose until it's able to fly again (or dies from its injuries). I'm sure there was more that she told us, but isn't that pretty neat? I think about it every time I see/hear the geese fly over.

Sheila said...

Thank you Mrs. Wood!

I found the goose, and this is what he said:

Hebrews 10:39 But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul.

Amazing. God works in marvelous ways. That is exactly the verse I needed to hear this morning!!! Thank you so much.

God bless, and hug Erica for me!
Sheila