Iktomi and the Buzzards - Standing Rock Edition

My children amaze me. Not just because of the people they've become, but also because of the people they have always been.

Our family moved to St. George in 1994. Prior to that we lived in HUD housing on the Fort Peck Reservation. When my oldest boy was around four or five, he came into my bedroom in the middle of the night to tell me that an eagle had been pecking at his window. He said the eagle came in through his screen and turned into a "maiden". I asked him what a "maiden" was and he described an older, heavy set woman. The "maiden" spoke to him in a language he didn't understand.

When a child wakes you up in the middle of the night to tell you this - and that child is concerned but not scared, you know that that child is spiritual in nature.

This same child (now a man) is dreaming again. He wakes up in the middle of the night to the sounds of people crying. He says he feels a call to go to Standing Rock. It is a call that causes an aching in his heart. I can see the same in my other children. Their hearts are broken, and their eyes are longing. We worry about our jobs and school and the millions of threads that tether us to our lives. We are pitiful beings, but we can give our pitiful offering of prayer, service, and time.

Six years ago I learned an important lesson about taking a leap of faith. Since that time, I have been working on strengthening my faith. I've been concerned because I used to have dreams and very solid answers to prayer. There have even lately been times when I have wondered why the Lord has abandoned me. As the family discussed our travel plans over the Thanksgiving holiday, the idea was brought forward that we all need a solid answer to our prayers before we trek halfway across the plains to the icy tundra.

I prayed. I'd been praying. But as I prayed that night for a solid answer, I was reminded that a solid answer is not a leap of faith. And I knew then that the Lord has not abandoned me or my family. We are strengthening our faith.

I am sharing another story today from Judea's screenplay. The animation above will make much more sense once you read the story. The story reminds us not to put our heads in dark places. And if we find our heads in places where the sun don't shine (whether ours or someone else's) we need to pull our heads out - even if it costs us our feathers.