The Cranes (10/09/2026)

They visit my neighborhood every day from late April through late October. It’s the same couple, I’m pretty sure. I’ve named them George and Gracie, but they don’t answer when I speak to them, so I might not have the names right. They are beautiful sandhill cranes. And every time I see them, I realize all over again how marvelous our LORD’s creation is. And I think the LORD for sending such a graceful pair to remind me.

The sandhill crane is a marvelous creature. My pair stand around 4 feet high. The first time I researched them after spotting them in my new neighborhood over a decade ago, I found out that in spite of their size and appearance, they only weigh 10 pounds or so. Yet when they spread those wings that can span over 6 feet, they manage to fly so amazingly well. And during migration, I learned they can fly hundreds of miles a day. They are an ancient species, one of the oldest in the bird kingdom; they’ve been part of our world for 2.5 million years. And they are monogamous.

Most years, George and Gracie appear and walk together through the neighborhood for a couple of weeks. Then one comes alone for a few weeks. I think it is George. Then, George and Gracie reappear with a toddler whom they tend to and teach. The three fly away in late fall. But only George and Gracie return in the spring. This year, Gracie was missing for a couple weeks, but when she reappeared there was no toddler. And I was sad for them.

I’ve watched them for hours on end. They stay with one another. They walk together. They feed together. And if one tires and lays down for a nap, the other stands on the alert. They exemplify a couple and impress me as being better at it than many human couples I know. And I pray that as their time in my yard for this year nears an end, they will remember how to get back.

In our modern era, we can lose sight of the wonders of creation. We have so much civilization that encroaches on the wildlife’s terrain. And we spend so much more time indoors and on our screens. I am blessed to have a porch – like a private viewing of so much wildlife: birds of every kind from hummingbirds to wrens to robins to hawks and eagles and turkeys to cranes. I have four-legged critters like deer occasionally, foxes, rabbits, a plethora of squirrels, even a coyote now and then. And as I ease drop on their lives, I am filled with amazement at what the LORD has made including me.

As we enter the season of fall, let us not lose sight of the wonders of spring. Let us bear in mind the full spectrum of life and know that to every purpose there is a time. And let us live our time in gratitude, wonder, and love. And may we live according to our creator’s divine design, like the sandhill cranes. May we seek always to be the ones our LORD created us to be.

Until tomorrow, let us all love well.