Survival 101

The grass shivered a little… and then some more. Then the movement below the grass turned a corner. The movement drew me closer to the grass surface. The spot that I looked at was over 3 feet away from the small bush at the edge of the lawn. There in the grass was a small mouse struggling as quickly as possible to make it back to the bush…his place of safety.

I watched with amazement as the small creature maneuvered from one clump of grass to the next. He was almost covered with the grass and he was in a big hurry to get to safety. He had a purpose for sure and that appeared to be survival.

Not far away was a crow guarding his territory. Looking for food and whatever might drop by. The crow had not yet caught the sight of Mr. Mouse hurrying across the lawn highway to get home to his family. Come on use your imagination here a little bit.

My question is what made Mr. Mouse understand that the open area was not really a good place to be? What created in him the need to keep covered up? – no matter what happens – hide! His little heart had to be no bigger than the end of my little finger. Some simple inquiries told me that it beats around 6 to 10 beats each second and can go up to 1100 beats per minute – but averages only 550 beats per minute. Wow!

Mr. Mouse had never been picked up by a crow before is easily understood – or otherwise he would be dead. It is also unlikely that he had ever been higher than one inch off the ground and for that reason had never witnessed another mouse being picked up. He just knew that he should be out of there and into a place of safety. Move it Mr. Mouse – move it!

As I pondered this simple creature and its ability – it is amazing to consider its natural instincts to survive. It knows where it should not be. It has a deep desire to avoid dangerous places.

In my garage I have set two mouse traps. I bate them with Peanut Butter which Mr. Mouse’s relatives seem to love. But I am having a hard time catching the little cousins. They cautiously come up to the trap and lick the Peanut Butter from the trap’s trigger. There all around the traps mechanism are tiny teeth marks along with a smooth marks where the Peanut Butter was completely gone from the trap. The trigger was actually cleaned right off. Too smart – too very smart!

One thing for sure is that he knows better to not be there when I come around. The little one in the grass was not aware of me as I looked through the window close to the grass.

Reflection…

• I wonder… what men and women would be like if they avoided danger?
• I wonder what men and women would be like if they avoided the trap of debt?
• I wonder what it would be like if they had that uncanny ability to know when the old crows of life were near – and then avoid that area altogether?

Recently I have been with people that ignored the inner thoughts or prompting of danger. They would rather have a simple short term good feeling in a “trap” to savour the good tastes. But they were not as lucky as Mr. Mouse’s cousins. They did not get a way – the trap slammed shut and they died emotional, spiritual and even physical deaths – even though they are still alive.

The sight of some one on crack is not pretty. The thought of a dead drug addict is not easy to leave alone. It comes back to haunt again and again. There is something about the shaking hands as they take a hold of the cigarette and light it – inhaling the smoke and finding a short term release – that really bothers me.

I am not a crack addict – nor have I ever been. But I am human and danger is close by – all the time. I need to make good choices – maybe you do also. Smart choices are ones that avoid the danger places.

Hey I know that it is a sermon now… but it needs to be said – watch out. Get your act together – you do not have a great time left.

I am pulling for you today.

~ Pastor Murray Lincoln ~