As my husband and I pulled into a diner for lunch, I noticed a large black bird with a wide wingspan swooping overhead. Exiting my car and walking toward the building, I realized the bird, a black vulture, had alighted on the roof edge along the gutter, now perched wing-to-wing with a second vulture. As we got closer, we could see them both looking intently at us with beady eyes, their heads moving ever so slightly lower as we got closer.

“Keep moving,” my husband chuckled, “so they don’t think we’re their next meal.”

I laughed, but I was taught that vultures do not attack people. Still, it was eerie, knowing how intently they were watching us. I imagined there would be something to learn from the experience.

As scavengers, vultures have a tarnished image. They live off dead and rotting carcasses, something abhorrent to people. They are equated with death and destruction and things foul.  But without vultures, and similar members of the avian clean-up and sanitation crew, humanity would suffer.

After all, God created every living creature, vultures, and humans, alike, with a purpose.  Vultures play a significant role in the cycle of life, providing opportunities for regeneration, purification and new beginnings. They get rid of the old, not only what’s not needed but what can be detrimental to humans, like bacteria that can lead to contagious diseases.

Now, when I see a vulture being a vulture on the side of the road or flying overhead, I consider what it is that needs purification and renewal in my life.  What is happening in my life that is detrimental to my mental, physical or spiritual life, or that of my family? What resources are available to me to help me make that change?

Most importantly, I remember that the vulture is living its God-given purpose, which causes me to reflect on whether I am living my purpose, as well.

One of my favorite quotes about creation comes from famed Russian novelist, and Orthodox Christian, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, who wrote, “Love all God’s creation, the whole and every grain of sand of it. Love every leaf, every ray of God’s light. Love the animals, love the plants, love everything. If you love everything, you will perceive the divine mystery in things. Once you perceive it, you will begin to comprehend it better every day. And you will come at last to love the whole world with an all-embracing love.”

Vultures may not be the most loveable of birds, but they have been part of my lesson that God’s creation has the power to teach us about God, about ourselves and the relationships that bind us.

Earth Day has passed but for us, every day is a day to embrace our role as protectors of creation, a term used often by Pope Francis. During his homily for his inauguration in 2013, Pope Francis said, “The vocation of being a ‘protector,’ however, is not just something involving us Christians alone; it also has a prior dimension which is simply human, involving everyone. It means protecting all creation, the beauty of the created world, as the Book of Genesis tells us and as Saint Francis of Assisi showed us. It means respecting each of God’s creatures and respecting the environment in which we live.”

Mary Clifford Morrell is the author of “Things My Father Taught Me About Love” and “Let Go and Live: Reclaiming your life by releasing your emotional clutter.”