Outside of our bay window, we have a double shepherd’s crook that holds a hummingbird feeder and a bird feeder (complete with suet cake holders on each side). We have a number of different birds that come to visit us, each one unique in coloring and each one with a different taste. Sometimes, it’s a solitary blue jay that chases off the four sparrows eating side by side; other times, it’s a hairy woodpecker coming to eat some suet. However, it’s not the birds that I want to tell you about – it’s a squirrel. If you have a birdfeeder, you know that squirrels can be somewhat of a nemesis. They chase off the birds and eat all the seed. Those who have ceased pursuing a better mousetrap have turned their attention to squirrel-proof bird feeders and poles. We have neither.
This particular squirrel that I want to tell you about caught my attention the other afternoon. He was a full grown grey squirrel (we have several in the trees around our home), and he had a hankering for some birdseed. I watched him scamper across the lawn to the base of the crook, where he began eating some of the seed scattered on the ground from the messy grackles. Not content with scraps, he began cautiously climbing the pole. He’d get partially up, and then began sliding back down like a rodent fireman. Eventually, I suppose he realized that such a cautious approach would not get him to his goal, so he climbed with purpose and made it to the top of the curved crook. From there, reaching the bird feeder was only about a foot away. Again, cautiously the squirrel would begin to reach out for the feeder, but doing so gave him too little grip on the pole, and he would either slide back down the length or, rather humorously, fall through the air flopping and flailing. Once on the ground, though, this little guy would not be deterred. Back up the pole – back down to the ground. I watched this process repeat itself numerous times.
The squirrel’s persistence reminded me of the parable Jesus told about the widow with the judge (Luke 18:1-8). The judge respected neither God nor man, and he was unwilling at first to give the widow the justice from her adversary for which she was pleading. Like the squirrel at our birdfeeder, though, this widow would not give up. She continued trying, continued pleading, continued coming before the judge. Eventually, the judge realized that the woman wasn’t going to give up, and provided her with what she asked. Jesus told His listeners that if this unrighteous judge was willing to grant justice to this widow, how much more would God grant to His children? Sometimes, we get to feeling overwhelmed by the injustice in the world, that which we see and that which we personally experience. The example of the widow is that we should be constantly going to the Righteous Judge for His justice, which He will provide “speedily” (v. 8), though we must remember that “speedily” is based on God’s timing and not our own. Because of the difference, we can get discouraged – which is why we need to keep coming to God in prayer regularly and repeatedly. Just something to think about… ~Pastor Roy (Oh, and the squirrel eventually did get some seed…and I honored his persistence by not chasing him off!)
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