battle

with summer and spring comes new life. green emerges in the most beautiful painting that wows my eyes and heart in ways that nothing else can. and of course, little creatures are out and about discovering this creation they have been born in to. this spring was especially exciting because the neighbor's tree held a little family of raccoons in it's hallow for about a month. we got to watch as a family of SEVEN outgrew it's little perch. seven being one mother and six babies. crazy. she is blessed! the night they moved out was filled with terror as one of the little ones fell off a branch. immediately the mother was yelling for her loved one as it was yelling back. she ran down the roof of the house and emerged from the other side. she found her baby unhurt and ready to be back with mom. meanwhile the whole family was chattering to each other, i'm sure keeping tabs on what was going on down on the ground. each day was a new blessing as i got to watch them, wondering what was happening, how big the babies were getting, and seeing if they were all there and ok. and you can imagine the surprise of finding that there were three times as many babies as originally thought.

move ahead about a month. i am driving on the main highway leading out of our little town. a few miles up i notice there are three dead raccoons on both sides of the road-one mom and two little ones. i got to thinking what it must have been like for them. because they weren't all hit at once, they were spread out from one another. i imagined that one got hit and the others were frantic, panicked not knowing what to do, tending to the one who was hit. and so their story went until their end. i remember the mom whose little one fell from the branch, even an animal has that sense of desperation and rush when something horrific happens.

move to yesterday, about two weeks since the highway trip. a squirrel was hit but not killed just in front of the house. he was dazed and hurt pretty badly. he just stayed in the middle of the road where he was injured. meanwhile people are driving around him trying not to hit him, or they are slowing down and taking a look to see if this is really what they see. i left him there thinking someone would eventually put him out of his misery, but no, the same thing kept happening. people would slow, gawk, drive around-meanwhile the poor thing is flattening himself down in terror from being driven over by massive trucks and school buses. eventually i can't take it, he is being tortured. so i get a towel, pick him up, and put him in the yard. i go in and call the humane society, they can't do anything, he's a wild animal. they say they'll call someone who may come pick him up. but NO. he stays there for four hours, alive. agonizing pain. he is whimpering. i don't know what to do. he eventually gives up his fight. he is buried in the back yard.

all of this makes me sick. the battle in this world isn't just with and against humans, it's with animals and trees and the ocean. our enemy is working very hard to deface God's beauty and majesty. trying to destroy and maim what he did not create. his wrath and anger are hard at work-he is not resting. just as we should not be resting. animals are God's just as we are. they are crafted in mystery and splendor. we cannot know them, we cannot know ourselves. but we can be in awe of the One who wants us, who is fighting for our hearts and lives. it is more than an honor to take up the sword and fight for good and His light. this is a battle i am willing to choose and die for. His Kingdom and glory. His splendor, His life-not mine. these are the scars, bruises, shed blood that i am not ashamed of.