Our favorite lake has been void of ducks of any kind. We miss the splashing and paddling, stirring up the swollen waters that are thankfully receding. Yesterday hope was in the air. A strange squeaky noise like a dog's rubber toy wheezed in the marshy reeds.
With my camera zoom, I was curious. Have you ever seen such an odd duck? It has an unusual orange square shield on its forehead and dark eyes. And, a beak like a Halloween candy corn kernel. Orange with a yellow tip. A sweet image.
An online searched brought no luck under Florida ducks. Then, an old photo on an Australian website turned up a winner. Our strange new waterfowl was not a duck, but a Moorhen. Instead of web feet for paddling, it has long toes to walk on soft marshy ground without sinking. It can adapt and overcome obstacles in harsh environments.
Synchronicity was at play when the Moorhen picture appeared. The caption brought a smile. "The Greatest of These is Love." And, the Moorhen was named the World Bird on 4/11/12 by the Australian webmaster. A few weeks ago, I read The Greatest Thing in the World by Henry Drummond. I took up his challenge to read I Corinthians 13, every week for the next three months. A man did once and it changed his whole life. Love is the greatest thing in the world. And, to do anything without love, is to do nothing. So I was grateful for the reminder as I'd slacked off.
More research revealed Moorhens are considered spiritual birds with symbolism that goes beyond the physical world. That was certainly true in my experience.
Associated with motherhood, it fiercely protects its young.
The bottom line, the Moorhen brings a message to start fresh and make a new beginning. A sign of adaptability and change. Like the Moorhen, we can adapt to our surroundings and make the best of the situation, but to do it with love and watch the results.
"Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not Love, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not Love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not Love, it profiteth me nothing.
Love suffereth long, and is kind;
Love envieth not;
Love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up.
Doth not behave itself unseemly,
Seeketh not her own,
Is not easily provoked,
Thinketh no evil;
Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things,
endureth all things... " (I COR. xiii)
Love and peace,
Rae Karen
