Today, while everyone else is talking about freedom, liberty, and independence, I am thinking about the freedom in “critter land”…that of the wild animals and birds. Living in the remote back country of North Carolina, I have the privilege to eavesdrop on their world, and I see what it means to be free. Freedom doesn’t mean we can do as we please, but we do as nature mandates for us. It isn’t all about how we can get, but how we can receive what God has provided for us. At Calvary, God provided the ultimate gift of freedom…freedom from His wrath in the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus.
EARLY MORNING EAVESDROP
The sun has barely kissed the mountain tops,
And colors yet remain a muted hint
of summer’s splash.
It’s then I see the wary eye and lively hops
Of Mother Rabbit; speckled thrush; a glint
of chipmunk’s dash
beneath the leaves to nether habitat;
A gentle whirr of wings…he hardly stops
To sip the nectar from a bud of mint
and in a flash
He’s gone to find a sweeter draught of sops…
The humming bird in acrobatic sprint
back to his cache
beyond the reach of Prince, the family cat.
This brief encounter in the early morn…
An eavesdrop on an alien critter land
of diligence…
Reminds me not my duties ever scorn,
And to be grateful for those things at hand…
a world immense
and filled with bounty far beyond my dreams.
It is not commerce, but creation’s norm
Gives satisfaction to my soul’s demand…
No false pretense
Or roads to riches or some task perform…
These are but castles to be built on sand…
No consequence.
But rather count my blessing, not my schemes.
