Wednesday evening as the sun was slipping off to visit our friends on the other side of this great world, we were watching from our vantage on the swake enjoying the sunset spectacle with neighbors who had dropped by. It had been a wonderful sunny day with that promise of spring that suddenly bursts upon us in Alberta and the house had absorbed the heat of the sun all day so we had a window cracked open that evening. Through that crack I heard a big airy rhythmic whoosh, whoosh; the sound of a Canada Goose flying really low somewhere nearby.
The goose circled the swake and we wondered what that silly goose was thinking coming back to a solidly frozen swake with over a foot of snow on the ground. By Good Friday, a pair of geese were perching determinedly smack in the middle of the swake at the edge of the frozen crispy brown reeds. We alternated between admiring the geese for being the first back and claiming the prime nesting spot, and wondering if maybe flying at a high altitude had damaged their migrational data processing - poor silly geese. How were they going to survive until the water opens? The coyotes can cross the frozen swamp easily right now and feast on a silly goose or two. The deer have a well-worn pathway right past the chosen nesting spot. Although the nesting spot is prime once things have thawed and the bullrushes have grown up as shelter, right now it is like purchasing property at the cloverleaf of several major highways. It's dangerous and noisy.
Watching these wildlife vignettes play out on the swake reminds me that life can be dangerous and noisy for all of us at times, and then I get to wondering. Is the goose really silly or has the goose learned from year to year not to panic if the water is not open the day it arrives on the swake? Does that silly goose know that the heat of the sun will break the swake up into a mushy mess by Easter Sunday providing hope and protection? I guess the big huge question is, "Did that lone silly goose that flew overhead on Wednesday while the swake was still swaddled in over a foot of snow, know something we don't?"
Because my mind never works in a straight line those questions led me to more questions. Why did my mother use to call me a silly goose? Where did that phrase come from? How does the silly goose fit into the Easter thing? Are you a silly goose if you believe in a risen Jesus? I know it is a crazy group of questions to lump together, however they are the questions that have been traveling around my neural pathways this week.
So with Easter Sunday breaking upon us tomorrow, I needed some resolution. First things first, either my mother was calling me a simpleton or it was a term of endearment depending on which source you choose! I'm going with the endearment because I have eternal faith and hope that she loves me. But what about the silly goose and the Easter business? I don't profess to have the answers. The goose made me think about the possibility that there are things at work around me like the navigational system of a Canada Goose and the resurrection that I don't understand. That is okay. I'm going to enjoy Easter and I'm going to enjoy watching the geese return to the swake. 1 Corinthians 13:13 is a reminder that while faith and hope are important, it is love that will make Easter come alive for all of us. "And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love".
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