On Critters and the Creator

A girlfriend emailed me this little essay this morning:

THE BUZZARD: If you put a buzzard in a pen that is 6 feet by 8 feet and Is entirely open at the top, the bird, in spite of its ability to fly, will be an absolute prisoner. The reason is that a buzzard always begins a flight from the ground with a run of 10 to 12 feet. Without space to run, as is its habit, it will not even attempt to fly, but will remain a prisoner or life in a small jail with no top.

THE BAT: The ordinary bat that flies around at night, a remarkable nimble creature in the air, cannot take off from a level place. If it is placed on the floor or flat ground, all it can do is shuffle about helplessly and, no doubt, painfully, until it reaches some slight elevation from which it can throw itself into the air. Then, at once, it takes off like a flash.

THE BUMBLEBEE: A bumblebee, if dropped into an open tumbler, will be there until it dies, unless it is taken out. It never sees the means of escape at the top, but persists in trying to find some way out through the sides near the bottom. It will seek a way where none exists, until it completely destroys itself.

PEOPLE: In many ways, we are like the buzzard, the bat, and the bumblebee. We struggle about with all our problems and frustrations, never realizing that all we have to do is look up! That's the answer, the escape route and the solution to any problem! Just look up.

Our Creator has given us so many clues in creation about our relationship with Him. I’m not sure how well the BUZZARD and the BAT fit the writer’s particular PEOPLE conclusion. Seems like the BUZZARD and the BAT wouldn’t gain anything by looking up. But maybe there’s a different message with them. The BAT, for instance, may hint that we must suffer a fall in self-esteem before we can approach His throne as He commands, in humility.

But assuming that it could fly upwards in such confinement, the BUMBLE BEE may fit the “look up” advice perfectly – and may be a beautiful reflection of Proverbs 3:5-6:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways acknowledge Him,
and He shall direct your paths.

In our pet-full household, I think often of cats and dogs and their relationships with us as metaphors for our relationships with God.

Mindy our Persian has nothing to do with us unless she is hungry. She would be happiest if we left her totally alone, which is a real problem with a cat with a cottony coat; we have to comb her and cut out the mats for her own good, in spite of the fact that it is torture for her to be held and touched. She considers herself supremely independent, and us, food dispensers at best.

When she is awake, Lucy the Basset has separation anxiety even if we simply close a door on her. A real surprise, considering how she ignores our commands when anything more interesting is going on around her.

Sir Wally the Oriental Shorthair follows us around, sleeps on us, sleeps on my desk all day long, and comes running when we call him. He talks to us constantly. He has no use for the other pets, except he seems to like Shad the yellow lab. Shad is very similar to Wally, in that he sticks close to us and obeys us even when he’d rather not. Shadow's only flaw is his fear of nail trims, fallout from a traumatic trim a few years ago, but of course we have no choice – he just can’t bring himself to trust us to be doing what’s best for him.

I think the lesson is that God wants us to be like Wally and Shadow – always with our hearts turned towards Him, responsive, obedient, and wanting to be near Him more than anything in the world.

I don’t know anyone else’s heart, but I’d guess that most authentic Christians are probably more like Lucy, wanting to be close to Him but wandering far away during the course of most days; perhaps that’s why He set aside Sunday as a day for us to concentrate on our relationship with Him.

And I’ll bet that most cultural or cafeteria Christians (those who pick what they like out of what little they know about God, and ignore the rest) are more like Mindy -- turning to Him only when they have an immediate earthly need for Him, and otherwise thinking of Him as someone entirely different from who He really is.