Good morning and welcome to the April 14th Musing.

I was once a trash man.   You know, the guys (and gals, but mostly guys) that ride on the trash trucks through the neighborhoods picking up the curbside-deposited waste on those designated days.

But I had an optimistic view of it, for things were always picking up.

Speaking of trash…

Why didn’t the buzzard have any luggage on the airplane?

Because he ate his carrion.

…

Well, Rod…what is with the pivot to buzzards, and just what is carrion?   Well, according to Merriam-Webster, carrion is ”dead and putrefying flesh”.   

We joke about buzzards and we look on squeamishly at the slightly macabre scene when we see them picking away at roadkill.  See…you are a tad bit unsettled now just thinking about it. But what we are watching is the work of God’s natural “trash men.”

Yes, this scene is by design.

In Proverbs we are reminded that…

The Lord has made everything for its own purpose.
Proverbs 16:4a

And in Nehemiah…

“You alone are the Lord.
You have made the heavens,
The heaven of heavens with all their host,
The earth and all that is on it,
The seas and all that is in them.
You give life to all of them
And the heavenly host bows down before You.
Nehemiah 9:6

Yes, the Lord made buzzards on purpose and for a purpose.   He made the earth and all the buzzards on it.

We can give thanks to the God of such care and attention to detail.

So the next time you are driving and you see a buzzard or two working on that less than fortunate animal, instead of being like, “Oh, gross!”, give them a friendly wave.   Even though it may be unsightly to watch them do their work, imagine how unsightly the world would be if they did not.

Yes, Lord, we thank you for the buzzards.

Rod

S.D.G. – 9

P.S.  I really did make a living hauling trash.   Well, a “living” is a bit strong.  Let us just say I made a few dollars while sorting the mid-span trajectory of my school and career decisions.  And yes…things did pick up.  🙂