Hi all! I hope you are doing well. I apologize for setting up goals and not meeting them. It is so frustrating to me when people say they will do something and don’t follow through and that is what I have done. Not to agitate or cause ill will, but because of out of order priorities causing distractions in the busyness of life. That goes with this bible verse, “For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do.” (Romans 7:15-20) This goes with the theme of February, Valentine’s Day. How does it relate you ask? The scripture says, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” (Proverbs 4:23)
Why do you guard your heart?
We can look to scripture for this. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.” (Jeremiah 17:9-10) For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. (Matthew 15:19; Mark 7:21-23) Then, how do we guard it you may ask? In several verses, it says to Love the LORD your God with all of your heart and with all of your soul and with all of your strength or mind. (Deuteronomy 6:5; Matthew 22:37) We can read His word and allow it to do a good work in us. Focus on and Trust in God.
When we give it to God, He will do His good and perfect work. For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12) I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. (Ezekiel 36:26-27; Philippians 1:6) For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. (Romans 10:10)
We have a choice…
A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. (Luke 6:45) In every situation, we should step back and see the underlying cause of the good or evil that has come out of us. I am always preaching to myself first and trying to help others look with different perspectives. God is our judge. Everyone has their own good or bad, any convictions from what I type here are only from the gentle nudging of the Holy Spirit in your life. I have made good and bad choices and done good and bad things as we all have. The level of these things is different for everyone.
Discipline and Boundaries…
My lack of discipline shows whenever I make a plan and don’t follow through with it. It is proof of our fallen nature. Basically, we have to be disciplined and give ourselves and others boundaries to have the peace beyond understanding. Jesus was the model for this. He prayed over everything He felt the need to. He would walk away and take quiet time and breaks from people. Then, He would move towards people as He was led and move away from those who were out to harm Him. He spoke his piece in truth and love and walked away. Not out of an “I told you so and so you must believe this” but a “This is the truth, what are you going to do with it? ((Enter curious emoji here. (‘-‘))
Why is this so hard?
To me, it’s hard to do this. Every time I make a boundary for myself, I break it. I believe this is a reflection of my relationship and reliance on God. This is showing that I am trying to make a plan, handle it by myself, and move forward. Then, I fail. (F-first, A-attempt, I-in, L-learning) I made a plan to go to bed earlier. Then, I was up till 1a, 2a and sometimes even 3a several nights a week. Definitely not sticking to the boundary. Not loving and taking care of myself or my needs. I did this for 2 weeks. Then, I gave it to God for Him to direct my paths. I was able to go to sleep before 10p. That happened one night. In that, I believe that I need to go to God more than I have been. My lesson for you to glean from.
God’s Adventure for me…
God had another lesson for me on Friday. He was bringing out the inner child in me. This happened by an injured squirrel. My heart is to help and save or rescue those in need. I was out all day. Everything flowed nicely as I went through my day. No time stress, just movement and order. This is a day I knew that I was in step with God and His plan. It doesn’t happen every time, due to me being human and out of step, but when you know, you know. My daughter had us plan ahead on lunch and order it the day before. I was able to get a coffee, go to her appointment, pick up lunch, eat food, return an item at the store, take her back to school, pick up items for the pantry at work I had the next day, and come home.
What happened when I got home?
I pulled into the driveway. There was a squirrel hanging onto the fence post with his legs out in a funny looking way. I took some trash to the bins near him, and he flipped himself to the ground and army crawled away. I followed on my side of the fence by the garage. He decided that it would be good to get away from me up in a tree. I was concerned, because he only had 2 working legs, which were his front legs. I didn’t want him to fall from the tree to his death. While he was in the tree, four of us were discussing what to do. Should we put him out of his misery or help him survive. I called the local wildlife center to see if they could come get him, but they couldn’t.
What led to the choices I made?
God had placed this squirrel in my view from the kitchen window weeks before. He seemed to have a military buzz cut on his head which stuck out. Not only did I notice this particular squirrel, but my daughter also did. Months before, she named him Luigi because of his skinny tail. After the neighbors went in, I had opportunity as he fell down from the tree to get him. However, I didn’t have gloves on. At this time, I tried with a plastic snow shovel and a cat crate for capture. That didn’t work. He came down from one tree and went into another. The neighbor then told my daughter that when she goes for the squirrel, with gloves on, she can’t hesitate. She has to grab him and hold firm. I figured that I would be the one capturing it and took his words to heart.
What I found out on the call…
It turns out the internet tells you not to catch the squirrel. It can scratch and bite you. Surprise, surprise. Then, after making the call, it was made clear that if I wanted him helped, I had to catch him and bring him in. Where would I bring him in, you ask? The location near me is a 45-minute drive from my house, and it was 5 minutes before they closed. I was told they opened Saturday at 9a and, if I caught him, I could bring him in. With the timing, I knew that I had to leave here around 8:15a to get him to his destination and back before my work at 10:30a. This is the only way I would have the time. Since that was just enough time, I decided to continue the work to capture the squirrel.
What else was suggested…
She recommended enticing him with food, but once I had him contained, not to give food or water. She said he would make it to them without anything more. My friend sent me information for the reason, which was to prevent any further issues, such as aspiration. We were not sure of the extent of injury. Food was in the crate when I was trying to lure him in without gloves, but he didn’t seem interested. I was basically holding the shovel on one side to entice him to crawl into the crate on the other side. This didn’t work. The next time he was down, I would need gloves to catch him. My daughter grabbed some for each of us as I supervised the squirrel in the tree. Teamwork at its best.
In the waiting…
For the last tree, I felt the need to pray aloud. I prayed that, if we were to rescue the squirrel, that we be guided by the Lord on how to do so. I had the crate at the bottom of the tree with other options of food. When we sat close to the tree and watched, he would watch us. If I went closer to the tree to show him the food in the bowl, he would climb higher. He held on with his 2 arms like a gymnast dangling on a bar. That made me think how he won’t come down if he thinks we’re too close. We moved away and watched. God asks us to step back and watch all the time. This was a watching that came out of necessity for one single squirrel. It took about 45 minutes.
How long did it take?
This whole rescue from start to finish happened from 3:40p to 5:30p before he came down from the second tree and I was able to catch him. The second tree took the longest. I was frustrated that I didn’t have the gloves after the first tree until I realized he was wearing himself out and wouldn’t be able to fight me, which is why I could catch him. He finally was working his way to figuring out how to come down from the tree. With his bottom half not working, he kept getting it stuck. He got mostly down and dropped himself out of the tree and started army crawling in the neighbor’s yard. I jumped the fence and came calmly towards him and picked him up by the scruff of his neck like a cat. I gently carried him to the crate, placed him in, and shut the door.
Afterthought emotions…
After the moment of catching him, I was proud that I did it. My words became, “I caught myself a squirrel today.” It was like a small child being proud of their work. I told so many people this story because of how unbelievable it was. Really, it wasn’t by my power that I caught it. It was by God answering my prayer. God gave me steps before praying that helped in this rescue and steps after. It was God teaching me how to wait, listen, and watch as I do something for Him in His kingdom. I was even out getting some fresh air for a couple of hours. To some, this creature is a nuisance that damages things in your house. To me, it’s a creature that is hurt and in need of a rescue.
God takes care of us all…
We are all God’s creation. The bible tells us how He cares about each of us. It talks about the birds being cared for, the flowers being cared for, and us. Each of His creation having different strengths, weaknesses, needs, and more. A heart after our Heavenly Father in Heaven. Down to our need to present our best when we have company over. You can find God in all things if you look, seek, or search for Him in the circumstance. His heart is heavy when we are hurt, His heart is joyful as we learn. When you look at a child and are watching the world through their eyes of wonder, you see God’s heart for us as you see your heart for the child. God loves us all as far as the east is from the west.
Prayer…
Heavenly Father, thank You for bringing me back to the blog. Help those who need any of the posts to find it as they need it. Thank You for being patient with me as I set boundaries for myself and others around me. Please help others with this as they need as well. Thank You for being patient with me as I learn to be in relationship with You. Help us all to grow closer to You and Your plan for each of us. Help us work as a collective family and body of Christ for Your honor and glory. Thank You for all that You do that we see and can’t see. You are an amazing and gentle Father, not as any Earthly Father we will ever know. We lift up all known and unknown needs to You, Lord, in Jesus’ mighty and precious name, Amen.
Luigi the Squirrel update…
I will change one of my blog pictures on the front page to the squirrel so you can see what I mean by the military buzz. You can see the helpless look in his eyes. He was so scared, his heart was racing. That very exertion of energy is the only reason he was not reactive when I captured him. I was able to get up Saturday and bring him to the nature center. She took him and spoke of how lively he was and that she thinks he would be a good candidate to survive. If his nerves were not intact, they would put him down. If they are intact, they will rehab him to be released back to his home in 2 weeks or so. In that case, we will drive back to get him and bring him home to live outside of course. Reunited with his family.