And People
April 25, 2012 (Wednesday)
An unfortunate squirrel misread the “Walk-Don’t Walk” sign on FM 1069 last Sunday and so became dinner for carrion eaters. As I sped down the road, getting closer to the big birds feasting on the unfortunate animal, I began seeing them more clearly and discovered they were not vultures. They were hawks!
I frequently see the majestic birds along that section of that road. They are usually perched at a place with a clear view of the surrounding terrain, giving them a good look at possible prey. Occasionally, they seem to fly toward me, as if they intended to take a bite of the car. Either way, perched or flying, hawks are majestic birds, inspiring admiration from guys like me.
That’s why I was a little disillusioned seeing my heroes dodging vehicles in order to get a free meal of roadkill.
I thought to myself, the squirrel has proved himself better than the hawk, because the squirrel is always foraging and is quite independent, almost yelling at me, “I’m walkin’ heah.” And then I strolled through the park this week, and quite a few squirrels approached me for a handout. Their wild independence had been compromised by those who feed them daily.
My oh my, I’ve been disappointed by my animal heroes. Wait a minute. There’s another species doing all this observing. The species includes me. And you. Now, I’ve not been disappointed by you, but I certainly have surprised and disappointed myself many times. So I suppose I need to be less judgmental concerning the hawks and squirrels who occasionally deviate from their normal behavior. People do the same. In different ways.
But we have something our animal friends don’t have. We have someone we can ask to forgive us. Sure enough, when we do that sincerely, he always does. 1 John 1:8-10.