Category Archives: Outdoor world

Wild in the House!

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Last night at 1:45 am I was brushing my teeth, the last chore after a long day, when Louisa and her friend Sara came bounding up the stairs. “There’s wildlife in the house! Come quick! It’s big!”

This was a moment custom-designed for Nate, always a champion at man-against-beast within our home. He’d caged a squirrel, a rabbit and a bird, and demolished bumble bees, spiders and horse flies. But in his absence, it had to be me.

“It’s in the pop cans can!” they said, as we approached the noise. I hoped it wasn’t a fox, coyote or raccoon, all of which we’ve recently seen in the neighborhood. Our aluminum can recycling system is over-the-railing into a plastic garbage can at the base of the stairway.

“In there!” Weezi said, pointing.

All 3 of us peered over the railing. “It’s big!” they both said.

In slow, single file we snuck down the steps, Louisa in the lead, following my instructions to gently lift the whole garbage can and carry it outside. But when she moved it, the “big thing” jumped straight up, causing her to drop the can, scream and double-step up the stairs.

That’s when we saw what it was: a half-grown squirrel, frightened to death. All of us leaned over the railing cooing, “Awww, he’s cute!”

We found the garbage lid, covered the can, lifted it outside and set him free. But our encounter with wildlife hadn’t ended. As I reached to turn off the hall light, an 8” dragonfly emerged, the biggest, scariest, buzzingest insect I’d ever seen! Now it was my turn to scurry up the steps. With all the screaming going on, I worried our neighbors would soon appear.

Using the tip of an umbrella to control his flight from a distance, we wore him out until he fell to the floor where we caged him in a bread basket. He, too, tore into the dark night, thankful to be free.

On the way back into the house, we spotted a spider the size of a dime (eliminated today with a broom), and this morning there were mouse droppings across the kitchen counter and stovetop, hints of encounters yet to come.

We didn’t want any of this wildlife in our house, and interestingly, they all regretted being there. I know how they felt, having raced into situations where I didn’t belong. Once inside, it was usually difficult to get out. Occasionally damage would occur, bringing regrets and necessitating apologies.

God offers to spare us from such thoughtlessness, preventing us from running wild. But of course that presumes we trust his wisdom over our own. If we do, he’ll spare us a great deal of grief.

Today we figured out how our wildlife had entered. I’d left the door propped open while carrying boxes in, forgetting to close it.

Too bad they hadn’t asked God whether or not they should have come in.

”When people do not accept divine guidance, they run wild.” (Proverbs 29:18)

Little by Little

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Skylar and Micah love the beach, as most children do. We’ve tried to spend lots of time there where everyone is busy, happy and gradually gets worn out toward a good night’s sleep.

The other day after a wild thunderstorm, our normally south-veering creek had swelled with enough rainwater to overflow its banks and had cut a new route, emptying into Lake Michigan toward the north. The kids loved playing in the gently moving, shallow water, and I saw an interesting phenomenon.

As the creek steadily ran across a new area of the beach, it gradually carved a deep course, cutting through 3 feet of sand. Never mind its gentle flow. Slow and relentless had done the job. Little by little individual grains of sand coaxed into the water had washed out into the lake. When enough sand had been moved, the sides collapsed in slow motion, widening the creek and its influence on the beach.

While watching 18 month old Micah with one eye and the creek bank with the other, I felt God nudging me toward a lesson:

small effort + steadfastness = impressive results

If I was told to move one grain of sand, it’d be easy, but digging a yard-deep trench would take more muscle than I could give.

The lesson is one most of us need to relearn throughout life. Applied to dieting, for example, it might mean eliminating one treat per day and losing pounds slowly but continually until we finally arrived at an ideal weight. Instead we go-for-broke, eating next-to-nothing or only broccoli because slow-and-steady takes too long. And of course radical diets never work.

Or let’s say we have trouble saving money. Setting aside 1 dollar each day would find us with $365 at the end of the first year. But we’d rather slash and stash a big amount overnight, even though we know we’ll have to use it by the end of the month.

Another example might be prayer. Talking to God for just 1 minute a day would mean by the end of the year we would have prayed over 6 hours, an investment of incalculable value to those for whom we’d prayed.

Q: What prevents us from rolling away one grain of sand at a time?

A: Thinking big and thinking speed.

None of us wants to spend time doing something small and unimportant. Moving 1 grain, losing 1 pound, saving 1 dollar or praying 1 minute seem like investments too small to be of any value. No one would even notice.

But that’s inaccurate. God would.

And more than just noticing, he’d be pleased with our:

  1. quiet contentment in small beginnings,
  2. demonstration of long-term commitment,
  3. perseverance.

He’d also reward us with eventual impressive results. Moving that 1st grain of sand followed by the 2nd, 3rd and 4th would be a painless way to win God’s approval while accomplishing something significant.

Who knew a wayward creek could teach us how to grow in godliness.

“Godliness with contentment is great gain.” (1 Timothy 6:6)

Endless Flow

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Little children love to be outside. Even a fussy newborn often quiets under an open sky or in a gentle breeze. These days we’ve been taking lots of walks with my young grandchildren, each outing more exciting than a well planned field trip. Preschoolers notice everything from tiny bugs to bits of gravel and beg to stop and watch, touch, discuss.

Today as Skylar, Micah, their parents and I ambled home from the playground, both children preferred walking to riding in the stroller, which slowed our pace considerably but invited us to look at the world from their point of view. Stopping in front of a small child-high fountain became a photo op as they studied the wonder of a never-ending water flow.

The little concrete girl was filling a tub with water from her jug, and we talked about why she might be doing that (maybe to bathe her baby). But it was puzzling that she couldn’t complete her task, because the water just kept coming. But as children so easily do, they accepted that this was the way it was for her, and on we went.

Our local Christian bookstore displays an attention-grabbing item, too: a 16 ounce pop bottle filled with dirty water. Dark particles float in it and sediment rests at the bottom. A sign explains this is the best water many people have. Among other things, they strain it for drinking, an appalling thought. No wonder disease runs rampant and people die young.

One of the ongoing humanitarian efforts of missionaries and others is to bring clean, drinkable water to people who’ve never had it. I think back to biblical days and wonder if the water then was any better than what’s in the plastic pop bottle at the bookstore. Quality water was like gold in biblical times, since that area of the world was (and is) mostly parched desert. Just reading through scriptural stories makes me want to head for the kitchen for a cool drink.

The Bible often uses water in powerful object lessons. One example is Jesus’ conversation with a woman at a community well where he referred to himself as the living water. Another was an Old Testament reference to God being the fountain of life. We also learn we’ll be drinking miraculous water in heaven one day.

The one thing these water images have in common is that they’ll never run dry. When earth’s water-resources have disappeared completely, streams of living water will be flowing still, into us, which means we’ll never go thirsty, not literally and not spiritually. Like the little concrete fountain Skylar and Micah appreciated this afternoon, the life-giving water available through divinity will keep running indefinitely.

The only difference between the fountain-girl pouring into a wash tub and God pouring into us is that her supply comes through a hose connected to a city water tank. And his? His comes from… well… him!

“You [O Lord] give [the children of men] to drink of the river of Your delights. For with You is the fountain of life.” (Psalm 36:8,9)