Four years ago we moved out into the country. We enjoy the handiwork of God on a daily basis through the lakes, the trees, the foliage and the creatures that surround us. When we moved we adopted four semi-feral cats mainly for rodent control. I must admit that I have become quite fond of the four. One day last week as I walked out to fill the bird feeders I gasped as I saw a lifeless furry creature laying beside the road outside our house. I called for my husband and he ran out to see what animal met their demise. We were both fearful it was one of our cats.
My husband quickly came back in and there was a mixed feeling of relief. The animal wasn’t our cat, but it was a tiny fawn, complete with spindly legs and spotted fur. I was sad that this creature’s life was cut off barely after it began. I’m sure that the fawn’s life ended by being clipped by a vehicle that was traveling down our road. Why did the deer not stop when the car was going by? Was she focused on her mother? Was she frozen with fear? Was she simply unaware of the danger? For whatever reason, the fawn didn’t sense the danger. As I began to ponder the short life of this beautiful fawn I realized that humankind isn’t so different. We innocently go into places that are filled with danger and horrible consequences develop. We are so focused on outside things that we don’t realize what is really happening. Do we sometimes freeze because we don’t know what to do?
There was a beautiful song written capturing the essence of Psalm 42:1 As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. That is a simple verse but it has a lot of depth to it. A deer needs water. We need God. Without God’s gracious guidance we lack direction, we lose focus and we cannot sense danger when it right upon us. The water is deep, yet we only need a drink to sustain life everlasting. The same principles apply to our country. Without God we are lost. Our vision is blurred. Danger lurks and we don’t see it coming.
Rest in peace little fawn. Live in peace, USA, before it’s too late to turn back or otherwise other nations will declare, “Rest in Peace, USA.”
Adopted Through Grace 