Goose Chronicles and Turtle Travails cont’d.


Life can be cruel - several days ago, I was out looking to see how mom goose was doing - only to discover that she was gone - and so were her eggs.   I walked around the pond to where the nest is and found that the eggs had been broken open - nothing left but shells littering the bank …and  downy goose feathers floating on the water.  I don’t know if the raccoons got to them - or maybe even coyotes - although I‘m guessing raccoons.   Since Dad is gone too I’m sure they left town - no need to stay here anymore.  I was so looking forward to the young goslings.  As I’m sure Mom was too.   Do geese have feelings?  How does she come to terms with the destruction of her not-yet babies?   These are human questions - for which we often do not have answers.  


Several of the turtle nests had also been vandalized - but the one right on front of our house is still intact… even the dogs have not bothered it…


We all know that life can be cruel - or so we say.  But the reality is that even raccoons need to eat which is probably why geese reproduce like rabbits…


We humans are the ones that put labels on things - like ‘life is cruel’- platitudes that mean nothing and are not comforting.


Our comfort is in the creator God who sees to it that all are fed - “look at the birds of the air, they neither sow nor reap…and yet your heavenly Father  feeds them….”   

May 11, 2012


Goose Chronicles and Turtle Travails………

The geese came early this year - about the end of February. Several pairs vying for territorial rights - and then they were gone. It appeared that no one wanted to stay - even tho we had mowed down the area around the old nest. A couple of days ago - on my nightly walk around the pond, I noticed what looked like a dead goose in the nest. But Mom was not dead, just very still and hunkered down, head under her wings. Three days later and she is still there - so she must be sitting on eggs. If so, this will be the first time in several years that we have had goslings - but that still remains to be seen - the raccoons are VERY persistent when it comes to the delicacy of fresh eggs. Dad is close by - holding steady on the water - still - hardly moving - rarely even eating - but paying very close attention to who ever and what ever trespasses in his domain… And of course Mom does not feed until the eggs are hatched. This seems rather late in the season to be sitting on the nest - but then what do I know - I’m not a goose. Silly maybe, but not a goose.

These birds are very focused - instinct takes over obviously, and they are doing what they were created to do.

And then there was Mom turtle laying her eggs in the grass - it’s fairly obvious - sitting on what looks like a mud hole. If the raccoons don’t get these, they will hatch in about 90 days. But I will never see them - they will be gone back into the water in spite of my persistent watching. (and I did mark the spot so I can come back to it…)

These creatures that God has made are focused - determined by their genes, single-minded - they have no choice really but to do what they were created to do…

So why can’t we do, with single-minded determination, what we were created to do?
(photo courtesy of the web)

5-7-12
Water Water everywhere and not a drop to drink…………….. Why is it that late nite is when I get ’inspired” I have no idea…………… anyway… maybe because I have just come from a Via de Cristo meeting?  Where - surprise, I am now one of the spiritual directors….  Anyway………

The local chapter of VdC is  called ‘Living Water.’
 Does that mean there is ‘dead water’?  I think so.. Living water, as in Jesus, and life giving baptismal water.
What is living water?   Water that is nourishing, vibrant - cool, not too hot or too cold.  As Lutheran/Christians we have grown up with the image of living water - Jesus talks about himself that way - nourishing and vibrant - life giving.  But we all know that many around the world do not have literal living water - fetid -  smelly  - polluted - full of dis-ease - and parasites  -  not life giving at all.  More like death defying.

So is it literal water - H2O -  or is there more to this image?

We have a pond in front of our house - we had it dug many years ago - and it is full of life - plants growing from the bottom up, and some flowering, algae, frogs, turtles that seem to have come from nowhere, ducks and geese and who knows what  else.  It is a vibrant and living thing this  pond.  It changes all the time and it is all about what God has done in that place……….  You know the cliché  - “… nature abhors a vacuum…”    Well there is no vacuum here. There is even a huge weeping willow tree that has taken root and thrived - on the edge of this living water……………… and I, and the dogs, like to talk around it - re-connect with our creator………….. Did I mention the frogs?   Yes - the frogs - I have no idea where they came from - they are just there along with the turtles that are now as big as dinner plates - and the moms lay their eggs in the grass… do they pray? (yes I believe they do, in their own turtle way - that no one will eat what they have so painstakingly laid down and buried……………)

Living water - rain, pond water, lakes and streams, oceans and seas, Jesus, chlorinated water from the tap, filtered to within an inch of it’s life, Jesus, bottled, purified, homogenized, Jesus, nutrient added - but safe and living, Jesus,.……………..

Living water - means different things to different people ..
What does it mean to you??