THE Way of the CROWS or An Attitude of GRATITUDE

Okay so besides feeling like I was in an Alfred Hitchcock movie yesterday, there was a great learning experience from watching some crows. First off, crows are not my favorite animal/bird. Have you ever noticed that they always portend evil and great doom. They are represented in every horror film or book as the thing used to communicate to the evil person the goings on of the intended victim (aka good person(s)). The witch in Snow White had a crow for a companion. The Lord of the Rings had a whole flock of them as look outs and birds of communication for Saruman. They have huge ugly beaks that can tear flesh. They are scavenger birds. Necessary but not a choice for pet of the year.

On the way to taking my sweetheart to work, we noticed a lot of crows flying inland. A few of them flew right in front of my car, like they wanted me to hit them and cause a dent or broken window. It was very foggy so maybe something was going on near the ocean. Birds tend to come inland when there is an unstable ocean. So maybe.....but I don't like giving them the benefit of the doubt. They are not nice.

On my way home from work, I stopped at a red light (always a good idea) and was watching several crows in a nearby field. At first I thought there must be something for them to scavenge such as a dead animal or something. They were all surrounding a certain bush. Then some of them would shoo away their fellow feasters and those crows would go to another bush. Then it was clear that they were gleaning seeds or nuts of somekind in the field. There were plenty of the bushes with the seeds and yet the ones eating at one bush would stop and look at the crows eating from a different bush and before you know it, they are all surrounding the same bush again. During this few moments, there were more crows flying into the field from afar. I totalled nine before the light changed to green. They would all be feasting and then out of the blue some of the crows would attack and shoo their fellows away. So the circle went.

The light changed to green around this time. So as I am toodling home I was pondering the crow experience. Heavenly Father has given us enough and to spare. He has also commanded us to not envy or covet. If we choose to not heed these wonderful words of council, we too may go the way of the crow. I have at times envied what someone else had and it never makes one feel good. Even if I save and save and obtain the same or similar object, not once has it made me "happy". Oft times, it ends up not working for me and ends up as a waste. So I hope I will avoid the way of the crow in the future. Sharing is good. There is enough for all and there is no reason to shoo someone away from a good seed because I think it is better than the one right in front of me. So I try really hard to be happy with what and who I am now, at this moment.

An Attitude of Gratitude will keep me away from the way of the crow.