7:30 BELLS: Master of Wind and Wings

On a bluff above the wild Strait of Juan de Fuca, I learned what it really means to be a master of your craft. As I huddled against the wind on a second story deck of the house, an eagle hovered before me. His wings arched and hunched, his talons dangling, he floated slowly straight down and landed in the yard below. All this in a fierce, fierce wind. What a master of wind and wing!

I’ve watched eagles before, but have never seen this feat. How intimately he knew his element—the wind. Then for an encore, and, as if to prove this was no accident, he flew up, drifted twenty yards north, and then floated straight down again.

As a writer, I want to be  like the eagle.  To be so familiar with my craft that I can use all my power and skill to perform the most delicate landing in the most challenging conditions. I would like to live this way, too. In our lives we teeter on many precipices in  fierce winds. Like the eagle, I’d like to face any great task or challenge--a personal conflict, crisis—with the grace and skill to have a safe and beautiful landing.

LORE OF THE BELL:  Learn the Wind and the Bells will Ring.