Golden-cheeked Warbler : Endurance and Victory

This is a Golden-cheeked Warbler. These gorgeous little migrants can be found only in one small area of North America, during one small period in the spring. The males establish breeding territories which they loudly announce with a buzzy, distinctive song. Typically my birding consists of what I call an “interrupted walk.” I get out in nature and enjoy what I see. But I wanted to offer this Warbler, which meant going to a very specific habitat and hunting for him very directedly. Candidly, there was some discomfort and disquiet from not following my normal approach. But I kept on.

This is the fourth week of the Omer. We are now half way through the journey that began with Pesach and culminates at Shavuot. Week Four of the Omer is devoted to Netzach, which our tradition interprets as Endurance or Victory. Imagine a trek up and over a mountain. Approaching the half-way point is when legs tire, spirits lag, and commitment ebbs. But the middle is also the essential point. Jewish writing is often built as a chiasmus, a mountain-like rhyme scheme that puts the critical element at the middle of the story rather than climaxing at the end.

In the journey’s middle, we acknowledge the victory we have achieved by reaching this highest point and reinforce our endurance to complete the trek. Our lives in so many ways echo this chiasmic climb. In middle age we reflect back on our youth’s accomplishments: education, professional success, community contributions, and raising our children. From that same peak we can look forward to the decades to come: greater reflection, savoring accumulated treasures, passing along wisdom, and yes, physical diminishment and death. I was “victorious” in finding the Warbler; more importantly the hunt reminded me to endure.