Our squirrel population seems to be down to one small red denizen. A month or so ago we had a large group of grays but I am suspicious they became meals for the various predators who are also residents of Old Farm Road. Yesterday I put out a five inch by five inch cake of suet for the incoming chickadees and tufted titmice that will be residing here for the winter. Several times during the day I saw the little red squirrel tanking up on the suet. Much to my amazement he ate all of it in one day. It was bigger than he. I can only imagine his physical discomfort as his small body attempts to process all that fat and grease. I wonder if he sat in a tree thinking, “I can’t believe I ate the whole thing. Why oh why did I do that?”
Most likely all of us know the feeling of having eaten too much. There is just one slice of pizza left. I better eat it. Then the regret comes. I am amazed at how resilient our bodies are. They can handle an amazing amount of abuse. However, little by little the cost mounts up and one day when we are far too heavy and find ourselves panting after climbing one flight of stairs we wake up.
We get sick and wonder why God isn’t taking better care of us. God must shake His head at our ignorance and self-imposed ills. My little red squirrel doesn’t know anything about I Corinthians 6:19 where Paul clearly states that our bodies our not our own. We are temples of the living God with obligations to care for it. My squirrel can be excused but do we really think we can be excused. Forgiven? Yes. Excused? No.
Written by Roger Bothwell on October 22, 2014
Spring of Life, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574
Rogerbothwell.org