SEEING
EAGLES WITH EDWARD

Topics: Empathy; Intimacy; Knowing God; Presence of God; Relationships

References: Psalm 139:7; 1 John 3:18–20

My husband, Edward, is devoted to hawks, especially to the golden eagles that are returning to Georgia. Driving down the highway with him can be a test of nerves as he peers over the steering wheel at a particularly large bird. Is it an eagle or just a turkey vulture? He has to know, even if it means weaving down the road or running off it from time to time.

My view is a bit different: “Keep your eyes on the road!” I yell at him. “Who cares what it is? I’ll buy you a bird book; I’ll even buy you a bird—just watch where you’re going.”

A couple of summers ago, we spent two months apart, and I thought I’d get a break from hawks. Instead, I began to see them everywhere—looping through the air, spiraling in rising thermals, hunkered down in the tops of trees. Seeing them, really seeing them for the first time in my life, I understood that I was not seeing them with my own eyes but with Edward’s eyes. He was not there, so I was seeing them for him. He was present in me.

—Barbara Brown Taylor, The Best Spiritual Writing (Harper, 1999)