WAITING WITH PATIENCE

BY MERELICE,—BROOKLINE, MASSACHUSETTS

As an urban resident who enjoys her neighborhood's bird activity, I am especially intrigued by the different species I view in my travels, in this case a visit to the Connecticut shore. I watched with awe what the author Anne Morrow Lindbergh described in viewing herons: "Like an umbrella, they unfurl their feathers for flight, and then abruptly telescope into a rigid walking stick to stalk for food" (Earth Shine).

It was the egret's rigid, motionless stalk that made me respect the importance of patience. On this day, the incoming tide added a new element as I perched on a large boulder and formed a human tripod, setting elbows on knees to steady my camera. It was my turn to be patient. For a split second, when the seawater churned, the egret would steady itself with a half-opened wingspread. Could I catch that ephemeral moment?

It took several tries. As the Apostle Paul noted in his letter to the Romans, "If we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience" (Rom. 8:25, New Revised Standard Version). I felt patience melt into timelessness. Then the movement of the wings came and was captured.

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