Squirrel

Coming home from work, they let the dogs out to go take care of their business. It was a beautiful day and the girls were running, leaping, and playing as they raced across the yard. Bandita caught sight of a squirrel. Chasing it she ran it up a tree while she raced onto trailer near the tree. Climbing up it she stood at point--watching the squirrel as it chattered at her from the safety of the tree.

She stood watching the squirrel for a while, until the shadow of a bird caught her attention. Racing off across the yard, she chased the shadow with the playful abandon of a puppy. Then she spotted a rabbit near the round bales of hay stacked. Racing after the rabbit, she leaped to the top of the bales, danced along the tops, jumping from row to row. Proud of herself, she looked back at the tree where the squirrel had been hiding. She caught sight of it streaking across the open ground, past the hay bales, running into the open pasture beyond the fence. Giving chase, she smacked into the cattle panels--stopping her as the squirrel ran into the wooded area just out of her reach. There had to be a way in. She went to the gate to explore for vulnerabilities.

"Why don't you call the girls in? They've been out playing long enough. Sheena's at the door wanting in. Where's 'Dita?" He called for the dog. She wasn't in sight. "I don't see her. I'll walk toward the barn. She's probably in the back section of the yard."

After searching, she was no where to be found. "Honey, she got out. I'll saddle a horse and look out in the pastures. Why don't you go drive around the area and look for here--see if she went to visit the neighbors."

The couple searched for over an hour. The dog had vanished. Knowing she would return when she finished playing, but worrying nonetheless, she returned home. As she drove through the open farm gate at the drive, she saw the dog streak through the yard with her dad on horseback coming through the pasture gate. She had been playing in the pasture again.

She stopped and closed the gate behind her--effectively sealing off the dog's chance of escape, then parked the car. The man and horse came up to her. "Crazy dog was in the pasture all along. She's captured something--rabbit or squirrel--and I can't get her to come to me."

About that time, the dog happily ran up to the shade of a nearby tree, dropped her prize on the ground and panted hard from all her exertion. They called to her. Picking up her prize again, she ran toward them, yet when they reached for the dead squirrel she ran off again. Pawing at the squirrel, she seemed to expect it to jump up and run so she could chase it again. Not possible for a dead squirrel.

She didn't want to let her parents have her hard-earned prize, but she wanted it to play with her some more. Putting it on the ground, she waited for it to run, but it just lay there. She picked it up and moved it, then put it down. It just lay there--dead.

Sometimes in life we get so caught up in playing, having a good time, running with abandon, that we forget . . . that for every action there is a reaction. The dog just wanted to play. We just want to have a good time; however, there are times that others are hurt in the process. We don't mean to harm them--yet they are harmed. We are distracted by "shiny things and good feelings" and forget to be mindful of our interactions with others.

Perhaps this is part of why Jesus implored us to "love your neighbor as yourself" (Matthew 22:33-40). Yet we are to love others only after with love God with all our heart, mind, your being. We are to love as God loves. Our love, our very lives are to be mindful of God and one another.

Loving God, we often lose our way because we are not mindful of others, of consequences, of the impact we make. Help us, to think before we leap, before we speak, and to look at others with the love and consideration which you model for us. Teach us to be friends--even with the squirrels. So be it. Amen.