Bears!

  So I recently came across this story of a bear cub with its head stuck in a plastic jar.  It was near death, having had this jar over its head for at least ten days, rendering it unable to eat or drink.  For some reason, I thought this was one of the saddest stories I've ever read.

  I don't know what it is with animals and me lately.  I'm just turning into a sap.  We were driving home the other night and a frog (I think it was a frog.  It was dark and small, so it may well have been a leaf blowing in the wind, for all I know) seemed to appear for a moment before my car, and I spent the rest of the night feeling terrible that I might have run it over.  Any more, when I see animals on the side of the road, I just feel sick for them--some animal was out wandering around, having no idea what a car or a road was, and next thing you know, it's dead.  (For some reason I don't feel sorry for possums.  I don't know why, but they don't get much pity from me.)

  I think all of these feelings are a result of feeling like this world is simply spinning too quickly for me to hold on.  Life is moving too fast for these raccoons and cats and dogs that are trying to cross the road, so they get caught up underneath us as we fly by to our next scheduled event.  In the same way, we're moving too fast to care for the natural world, for bears and pelicans just about every other animal God has created.  They're simply getting in the way of our 'progress'.

  Perhaps what we truly need is to slow down.

  Take a breath.

  Say a prayer.

  Walk a labyrinth.

  Thank God for life, not just our own but the abundant life that surrounds us.  Perhaps if we spent more time thanking God for creation, being still and acknowledging God's gracious abundance, we'd be a little grateful for all the life God has made, and in doing so, we'd be better stewards of the world that surrounds us.  Perhaps if we weren't in such a big hurry, but rather reorganized our priorities to put worship at the top, we'd slow down enough to care for one another, for a hurting world and our hungry souls, and life would be treasured as the precious gift from God that it is.

  Slow down.  Breathe.  Open your eyes, and watch as God's hand sweeps some of the dust from your vision, that you may see with new eyes this day that God has set before us.