September 23, 2024
Better to meet a she-bear robbed of its cubs than to confront a fool immersed in folly.~ Proverbs 17:12 ~ NRSV
I had the pleasure of an overnight visit with my niece and nephew (her husband) in their home in Connecticut. It’s the first time I’ve been there in 20 years. They live about 10 minutes outside city whose population is over 40,000, with commuter train service that can get you into New York City in about an hour’s time. Compared to small town Woodstock, it sounds downright cosmopolitan. We spent an hour on their boat enjoying the gorgeous weather and drinks as the sun set, then went to dinner at a delightful Italian restaurant.
During sunset drinks on the boat her husband showed me a brief video he shot about a week ago while doing yard work. The video showed a huge black bear on it’s rear legs eating apples off of the neighbor’s tree across the street from their home, not more than twenty feet away from where I had parked my car in the driveway. I could hear him on the video whistling and calling for the bear to come closer. I’ll mention that he is college educated and sells medical equipment to hospitals where he frequently needs to step into an operating room. He’s smart, good with his money, and apparently lacks common sense in the bear department, proving Rod’s Grandma Chamberlain’s phrase, “common sense isn’t common”.
When we got back to their house, they told me to make sure my car doors were locked to keep bears out. They also so said that if I heard screeching and screaming during the night, to not worry about it. Seems there are coyotes roaming the neighborhood, looking for smaller animals like cats and dogs and chickens for their dinner. With that information I went to bed thankful that I live in the safety of Woodstock and for the information about how to avoid folly by bothering bears and coyotes.
In the middle of the night, sure enough, I was awakened by the sounds of screeching and screaming. I can tell you that I slept very well when I got back home.
We live in an amazing world, surrounded by animals and insects, plants and trees. We think we are masters of our fate and rulers of the world. We’ve forgotten that they were here long before us. Our best selves realize that we need to live in harmony with nature. If I swim in the ocean in murky water early or late in the day, I need to remember that I am swimming in the home of sharks. But this is not forever. There will be a day when the Kindom of God at hand becomes fully present. On that day, “the cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together and the lion shall eat straw like the ox, there will be no more us and them, and our differences will be made into the most amazing quilts of all time, and we shall be one. ~ Isaiah 11:17 NRSV AFC adaptions. If they can live in peace, then surely, we too, shall do the same.
Pray for and live into that time. ~ Anne
Wayfinding 