As I sat on the park bench I happened to glance down and see a peanut sitting inconspicuously behind one of the legs. Naturally, I bent over and picked it up. Glancing up, across the walking path, I noticed a squirrel suddenly stop his constant hopping and digging to give me a hard stare of anticipation.
Laughing aloud and looking down at the small nugget of gold, that I obviously held in my hand, I debated whether to toss it over to the little grey fur ball or hold it out as an offering.
Isn’t this what we do in life sometimes? We know what the right thing to do is, yet we hesitate and try to figure out another path.
Instinct tells me to toss the peanut to the squirrel, so why don’t I do just that? Is it God whispering to me to toss the small gift, and, in return, me trying to rationalize another or better way? Perhaps.
Am I being selfish to want the squirrel to come and take the prize from my hand? Why do I need that confirmation of its trust?
In the end… I tossed the peanut to the squirrel and he cracked it and ate it then and there.
My reward was found in my own smile and warmed heart! Thank you, Lord!
Hebrews 13:16 “And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.”
Image Credit
These golden moments don’t happen very often, but when they do the day seems better, doesn’t it?
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Undoubtedly! Thank you for popping in! ;-)))
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So beautiful, Kevin. An understandable question but you made the right choice. The squirrel was lucky to have you there.
I faced kind of a similar situation last week…resisting the urge to pet a downed fledgling in my grass. God took the dilemma away from me when the momma bird showed up, landed about a foot away from me from me, had her words with me, and soon encouraged her baby to fight its way up and out of my yard, where the giant wolves (er, chihuahuas) live.
They live near my house and I see them on the wall all the time since then, so I think the fledgling made it, hopefully. It was a purely selfish drive to want to reach out and touch it, but I didn’t, and it all turned out happy in the end. 💖
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Wow! We are all God’s creatures, so perhaps we lean into helping when we should and listen when we should and let nature be nature… Thank you for stopping by and especially for commenting! ;-)))
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Look at you with the Big Heart! You Ole softy!
Great Job!
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Ha… I am… Thank you!
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A heartwarming story, Kevin! I love it.
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Thank you, Winnie!
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You’re welcome, Kevin!
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If you want to feed a squirrel by hand, try local college campuses. When I was at Berkeley, I could lure squirrels onto my lap to eat out of my hand no problem.
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Very true! I was recently visiting a college campus, and the squirrels were not at all frightened. I also had a dear friend in childhood who had a pet squirrel… That was fun!
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Super cool! Maybe one day we’ll breed truly domestic squirrels!
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Maybe… My wife would not allow me to have one, though! ;-)))
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But would your wife allow a squirrel to have you? There are ways to work around rules!
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Buahahaha… I’m guessing not! Hahaha
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Absolutely beautiful!❤️
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Thank you, Richa! ;-)))
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Yes, we do such things so often. It’s good to reflect upon our motives. Enjoyed this story, Kev. 🙂
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Thanks KC! ;-)))
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Aww, how sweet!
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Thank you!
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Really a great post, Kevin!! I loved your development of such a simple situation into a bigger view of life. Awesome!
Hope you have a great weekend, My Friend!
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Thank you so much for the very kind words! 😊
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Reblogged this on The Reluctant Poet.
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Great post! I loved how you turned a seemingly normal everyday event into a beautiful story! Keep going! 🙂
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Thank you so much!
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