The Squirrel and Us

I was standing next to a little creature - a squirrel. It had its eyes looking up at me although I believe it probably did not see me. There it was, a huddle on the ground, skin ruffled, breathing slow. It was all my dog’s fault. They had caught the poor animal and would have tortured it more had my brother not run out to its rescue. Now I was standing there while my brother tried to call animal rescue. Apparently, he wasn’t really persevering because he just hung up and came to look at the squirrel.

“It’s breathing slow, Jack. See”? I pointed to the poor animal.

“Maybe it’s getting better”, he replied, which I doubted.

“It’s not gonna survive”, I didn’t say out loud, but I thought in my brain. My brother walked over to get a shovel.

When he got back, I sighed. “Jack, it’s not breathing.” It wasn’t. It had died.

“Yeah”, Jack responded. We didn’t say much, we were both too sad. Why? Why be sad about a squirrel you had never seen before? I don’t know, but I was sad anyway. I was sad that my precious dogs would kill an innocent squirrel. I still loved my dogs, but I loved the squirrel, too.

I felt like what Jesus feels like. He hurts to see us die. He loves us lots and lots; he even died for us! But he also loves Satan. He hates what Satan has done, and works against it, but he still loves Satan. The devil, Satan, doesn’t love Jesus in return. He hates God, working always against him, and he hates us, too. He killed Jesus and tries to kill us too.

Let’s remember that God in his mercy always loves us. He will help us to fight Satan, even when we wander into unsafe boundaries (my squirrel should not have gone into our yard).

~Alice