My Deer Visited Today

Hooray, they are back, my deer, that is.  I hadn't seen does, fawns, or anything else resembling deer in my yard all summer. The bucks usually don't stay around, and the elk usually don't cross the highway to visit me. I hadn't realized how much I've missed those beautiful, graceful creatures until I caught a glimpse of them this morning.

Calling them my deer is a little presumptuous of me. I guess I feel that while they are on my land, I can claim them. Then, of course, it's not my land either. My piece of paradise and all that dwell on it belong to the Lord. I'm just the caretaker.

So, this morning I am watching and caring for a doe and twin fawns. I noticed the doe first. She was eating the leaves off a weeping type of tree in my yard. Though the tree isn't very tall, its slender branches gracefully cascade all the way to the ground. It's beautiful to look at and a wonderfully secluded place for children to play. Today, the children were not the usual kind. These were four-footed, but they played like any other child would do. They jumped in and out of the branches, making each other jump in surprise while mama kept close watch.

It wasn't long before the fawns left their leafy playground to find their mother for a quick snack. She let them both nurse before leading them into some tall grass where those little guys just disappeared. The mom then moved into the nearby mowed area to graze, but the fawns remained hidden. All I could see was an occasional twitch of an ear.

Over an hour has passed and I can no longer see any sign of the little family. They may all be bedded down in the grass, safely camouflaged from prying eyes--mine, or they may have slowly disappeared through the undergrowth and into the forest.

What a blessing that beautiful mama and her babies brought to my day.  They brought something else, too--a reminder of a sermon I heard over forty years ago.

The pastor that Sunday began by saying many people don't feel a need for church because they can see and worship God while hiking, camping, boating, skiing... Our mighty, creator God is evident wherever we look. We can praise him for the beauty in the trees, flowers, and sunsets. We can be in awe of the wildlife we are privileged to glimpse. "Wow, what an awesome God!" we can proclaim in complete sincerity. We can even burst into song. But nature is a place where the graceful fawn is slain by the hungry cougar securing food for her cute babies. Its where the crow steals newly hatched robins from their nests. It's where the bald eagle carries the family cat home for dinner. Its where the large-mouth bass grabs an unsuspecting duckling. That is the way nature is, each animal living the only way it knows how.

But we aren't those animals. We are God's children, created in his image, who often choose to do our own thing, things for which we need forgiveness. Nowhere in nature will we see Christ's redemptive death on the cross . And, nowhere in nature will we see Holy Spirit changing hard hearts. We need to hear the Word proclaimed, taught, preached, witnessed to, and sung before we can even begin to understand not only our creator God, but also our redemptive Lord, and heart changing, step leading Holy Spirit.

Thank you, Lord, for the deer family that ate, played, and rested in my yard this morning. Thank you even more the reminder that you are so much more than a marvelous creator. You are my redeemer. Amen

Jan