Squirrels. Yeah, that’s right. You thought I was going to say mothers-in-law or something.
Quite some time ago, one of my faithful readers (I am oh, so grateful!) referenced a sermon about squirrels which had apparently triggered thoughts of my writings. I took that as a compliment to my creative writing skills and the excellent connections I make between ho-hum living and God. (Nothing wrong with a healthy ego, right?)
It is also possible that I was being called nuts. Either way, I’m sticking with the compliment.
Lacking a true direction today, I decided to add my voice to the topic. (Probably the ‘nuts’ trait referred to above)
To do this successfully, I began to research the furry little creatures that you either love or hate. It turns out, there is a LOT of information to dig through. I will pick just a few of the nuts and squirrel away the rest for another day.
Whether thinking of these rodents as cute or annoying, we all live with them – they’re everywhere we are. Studies have determined that in many ways, they have human personalities as well. Admit it. You thought it was just your dog.
Here are a few that I found.
- Squirrels have been proven to be liars, especially the gray ones. Because they experience a pilfering rate of nearly 25% of the cache of food buried for that rainy day we hear about, they pretend to bury an acorn to throw off the thieves if they are being watched. They just keep it in their mouth.
- They are quite resourceful and can find their hidden feasts buried up to one foot below snow cover.
- Squirrels are organized and will separate their nuts according to type. Apparently, they can sort (walnuts, pecans, almonds, etc.) and then cache each variety in a separate location. My pantry doesn’t look like that!
- Some of these scurrying creatures suffer from technophobia as they have this habit of taking us offline with their gnawing. On purpose? I’ll let you decide.
- Squirrels used to be popular pets. But of course, politics came into play eventually when, for example, Ohio taxpayers were obligated to submit at least 10 squirrel scalps to the town clerk every year.
- Squirrels were considered a moral compass for “encouraging humane behavior” (Etienne Benson) and to “cure them (boys) of their tendency toward cruelty.” (Boy Scouts co-founder Ernest Thompson Seton)
Yes, I could go on. But what does any of this have to do with living in Christ, which is, after all, the purpose of these ruminations?
Here’s my takeaway.
- We are stuck with each other.
- We can be cute, adorable, kind, and loving.
- We can be annoying – so very annoying.
- We have a propensity for lying.
- We stash our bounty and then lead people to believe we that have nothing to share.
- Most of us are not so very much afraid of technology, but we do exhibit fearful behavior when it comes to those who are not like us.
- We gnaw on relationships with judgment and disdain.
Thankfully, there is a big difference between the squirrel and the human. Nothing mentioned in the above bullet points is written in stone.
- Our actions are not constrained by instinct.
- We can choose.
- We can override tendencies to be harmful, fearful, and selfish.
- We can be ingenious and if pressed, we are capable of unearthing treasures buried deep under the snow, under the surface of the ground, or even under our own deep insecurities.
I noted during this research that tree-dwelling squirrels tend to be independent and prefer to be alone while the ground-dwelling species are social butterflies. Not even all squirrels are the same.
I suppose my tendency is toward the tree-dwellers (except for the thing where they travel head-first down tree trunks) but my desire is to be more social. It’s a desire to be with all kinds of people especially those who are not like me. It’s not an easy road – and yet, I can choose. I firmly believe that my world will be more beautiful if I work toward this goal purposefully and consistently.
We can love all ‘squirrels’ – or not. The choice is ours.
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