Truth from Nature

One of my favorite spots in our house is the sunroom. Tall windows on three sides and a French door overlook our small back yard where an entire menagerie of wild animals lives. In the four years since we moved here we’ve seen skunks (Jake, my youngest golden retriever has a particular talent for finding them), an armadillo, a family of raccoons and most recently a possum. Bluejays, cardinals, doves, and a lone hawk dart in and out among the old oak trees shading our back yard. We’ve grown accustomed to them and miss them on the days they don’t appear.

Last spring, I brought my manuscript and a tall glass of iced tea into the sunroom intending to spend a few hours editing and revising. Movement in the tree out in the corner of the yard caught my eye. I picked up my binoculars and spotted a little gray squirrel making multiple trips up and down the trunk. I finally realized that something had disturbed her nest and she was moving her babies to a safer location. One at a time. She didn’t stop until every baby had been rescued and moved. Apparently nothing was too difficult for her if it meant keeping her youngsters safe.

I was mesmerized by her industry and humbled by her patience. I thought of the times just that week when my lack of patience had left me frustrated and out of sorts. I arrived at the dry cleaners only to find it locked and a “Be Right Back” sign on the door. I grumbled to myself. What kind of business locks its customers out in the middle of the day? I went on to the grocery store. Schools were out for a holiday and the aisles were crammed with mothers pushing those huge carts shaped like trains or cars, meant to entertain the small children riding in them, but completely blocking my access to the Blue Bell ice cream case. And another thing. Why did the grocery store reserve parking spaces right by the door for “Parents with Child?” Those parents are usually in their twenties and thirties whereas I am…um..not in that category. My knees hurt. My hips hurt. Why can’t those twenty- somethings park farther away and let me have a primo space by the door?

Sitting in traffic on the way home, I took out the notebook I carry almost everywhere and it fell open to a verse from Colossians I had jotted down at a worship service several months earlier. Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothes yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. ( Colossians 3:12 NIV)

In the chaos of modern day life, it’s easy to get overwhelmed and when we do that, we fail to appreciate the gift of simply being alive. I thought again of that wise little creature moving her babies one by one and resolved to be more patient in my own life. Nature can teach us so many things if we are willing to watch and listen. What truths have you learned in this way?

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An accomplished author in the secular market, Dorothy Love makes her inspirational fiction debut with her Hickory Ridge series of historicals set in her native South. Her skillful blending of the historical and the personal reflect her passion for discovering the histories of ordinary people who accomplished extraordinary things and set her apart as an authoritative voice of Southern historical fiction. Connect with Dorothy on her website: dorothylovebooks.com