Beech Tree News Network

Sometimes, I will have a thought that will not leave me alone.  It’s usually a simple thought, a little nudge of sorts, that keeps coming back no matter how hard I keep trying to ignore it.  A week ago, I had one such thought.  The thought was, “I need to pick some turnip greens.”

Garey had just left to spend a few days in Alabama.  His mom’s health hasn’t been good of late, and he went down to help her.  When I thought the “turnip greens” thought, I reasoned against it.  “I’m not going to fix turnip greens if Garey isn’t here,” I said to myself.  When Garey is gone, I eat junk food.  I’ve often told him it’s a good thing I married him, because I will cook good food for the two of us.  When he’s not here, however, I drive through McDonalds, eat TV dinners and polish the meals off with pastries.  Marrying Garey probably saved me from dying at the age of forty-five due to heart disease.

Anyway, the turnip greens would not leave me be, so I grabbed a bucket and headed down the hill to the patch.  After I gathered my bucket full of greens and started back up the hill, I looked to my left and noticed what looked like a small oak tree growing from the center of an elm tree.  “That’s weird,” I said out loud, and walked over to check things out.  When I traced the trunk of the oak tree down to its roots, which were growing from the ground, not the center of the elm tree, I heard rustling in the leaves nearby.  There at my feet was a squirrel, caught in a live trap, left over from the gardening season.  Garey used them to trap animals that were eating our beans and corn.

The poor little squirrel had skinned his nose up while trying to find his way out of the trap.  He was still crazy hyper, so I don’t figure he had been in there very long.  I set the bucket down and tried to free him, but I didn’t have the strength in my hands to undo the trap.  I had my cell phone with me, so I called our friend, Ron—he runs cattle on our farm—and asked if he was anywhere near my place.  He said he was headed that way with some hay, so I explained why I needed his help.  When he arrived, he opened the trap, and the little squirrel ran for the hills.  I haven’t seen him since.

One day last summer, I had another thought that wouldn’t leave me alone.  That thought was, “Take out the scraps.”  I keep a small bucket with a lid on my kitchen counter for food scraps.  When the bucket becomes full, I take it out to a compost pile near the barn.  The scrap bucket was only half-full that day, but the thought wouldn’t leave me alone, so I took the bucket to the compost pile.  When I got there, I saw that a bird had one foot wedged between two twisted wires on the fence nearby.  He was flopping this way and that trying to free himself.  Garey was home that day, so I got his help.  I held the bird’s wings while he pried the wires apart with a screwdriver, freeing the bird’s foot.  I let go of the wings, and the bird flew to safety in the oak tree behind the barn.  I was so afraid that the bird would be too injured to fly, and I was so relieved when he set sail.

About three years ago, one fall day, Garey decided to drive down on our farm to put out corn for the deer.  As he neared a roll of lateral line that had been placed there for future use to tile the field, he noticed something sticking out of one end.  As he drew nearer, he realized it was a Beagle.  Evidently, the dog had chased a rabbit into the line and had gotten his head stuck.  There were no houses within barking distance, so no one knew he was there.  Garey had to use his pocketknife to cut the line and free the little thing.  The Beagle stumbled around a little till he got his bearings then headed off in the direction that was probably his home, more than likely, swearing off rabbits for good.

When I think back on these seemingly random events, I see the vey heart of God.  I think of the time when Jesus said to the disciples, “Two sparrows cost only a penny, but not even one of them can die without your Father’s knowing it.” (NCV Matthew 10, verse 31.)  I believe that every day, we are an answer to a prayer for any number of animals or people in all of God’s creation.  Every day, whether seen or unseen, we are opening traps for one another.  Sometimes, random thoughts are the key.