I stepped lightly on the moist ground trying not to make to much noise as I headed down the shaded trial towards the river. My cold hands clasped my camera firmly as my eyes scanned through the woods looking for things of interest to capture on film.
By now the sun was setting and its tiered rays were casting a warm glow across the sky. The cool evening air was causing an almost mystical fog to appear off the sides of the river bank. I paused for a moment to take in the glorious view. Song birds were flying to and fro finishing up the last of their days work, a few deer followed a massively large buck in the distance as they carefully walked out into a clearing to graze, Canadian geese were swimming in large flocks down the river and a few colorful wood ducks were perched on a drifting log.
I raised my camera and used up all of its zooming power to try and capture the ducks iridescent colors however they were just out of my eye’s range and they were still to far off for my camera to do them justice. I carefully crept forward towards them however, trying to miss every single leaf and twig seemed to slow me down quit a bit.
At this pace I mine as well hitch a ride on one of those snapping turtles that were traveling along the same trail as me … I figured that I could probably get closer to the ducks in a more quietly and quick fashion if I could only bring myself to sit atop one of those nice sweet turtles. However, there was something about their massive knee high size, pointed sharp looking mouth and spiky tail that deterred me from doing so and as a matter of a fact … it actually made me walk in a wide path around them! Even though I knew that they are not aggressive out of water and move about as fast as a snail, I still could not bring myself to get anywhere near them. Somehow my mind was now SO fixed on keeping my distance from these wonderful, calm, horrifyingly scary creatures that I had almost forgotten what I was doing and where I was going!
After a few deep breaths I regained my concentration and continued my quest. The ducks were still a long ways off and I stepped forward with an eager air of new found confidence in myself when “crunch!” I stepped on a small twig and away the ducks flew! Bummer! I missed them again!
As I continued down the trail looking for something else to fix my camera on my mind just could not get off of those ducks! They are just soooo attentive!! The brainyack side of me recalled how attentiveness is defined in the dictionary as
“the ability or power to concentrate mentally, a close or careful observing or listening, the acts of being considerate, courteous, and thoughtful.”
these thoughts sent my mind off on a trail of its own as I considered how attentive I am in life.
To me, attentiveness is not only about observing or listening, but it’s also about showing the worth of a person by giving total undivided concentration to their words. As I pondered my own attentiveness to those around me I also got to thinking about wood ducks.
I remembered how a pair of wood ducks work together in building their nest and preparing it for their young. When the nest is complete, the mother wood duck lays one egg each day for twelve to fifteen days.
Then, (quite amazingly!) the egg that was laid on the fifteenth day hatches on the same day as the egg that was laid on the first day!
Now why in the world was I thinking about this and what does attentiveness have to do with baby ducks hatching? Well, the more I thought and the more I walked I realized that all the eggs hatch on the same day because the mother and father wood ducks begin “talking” to their young while they are still in the eggs. In this way the young ducklings learn to be attentive to the voices of their parents.
As the day approaches for hatching, the mother wood duck begins giving instructions to the un-hatched wood ducklings. Then before long, a chorus of “peeps” comes from the eggs, as the ducklings respond to their parents and to one another. These “conversations” between adult wood ducks and their young bond them together and help to synchronize the hatching process so all the ducklings break out of their shells within minutes of one another!
When the ducklings are less than 24hrs old, their mother flies to the base of the nesting tree and calls up to her ducklings to leave the nest. This instruction could mean a jump of up to fifty feet for the ducklings.
Ducklings that were attentive to their mother’s voice before hatching scramble up the side of the nest and jump. Usually all the ducklings jump out of the nest in less than five minutes. This quick response is necessary because hungry predators also hear the mother’s call an will come to devour the mother and her ducklings if they do not find safety in a nearby pond.
In the pond the ducklings continue to be protected by being attentive to their mother’s warnings. When they hear a warning, they must remain motionless until the danger is passed.
The more I pondered this the more I realized just how non-attentive I am in my life and to those around me and how important it is for me to be attentive to what the Lord is calling me to in life and to those around me.
My (now weary) feet neared the truck’s door as I realized that I had not gotten one single picture at all on my walk! However, I felt that the lessons that I pondered and learned on this walk were much more meaningful and important to me than a few shots of wood ducks =)
Now every time I see these beautiful iridescent creatures, I am reminded to be careful in observing or listening to where the Lord is leading me and what he is ‘telling me‘, and to show the worth of a person by giving total undivided concentration to their words.
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