One of my favourite sayings is the ancient Jewish advice of “Don’t expect miracles but recognize them when they happen.” (In the Jewish understanding, a ‘miracle’ is not something that is supernatural, necessarily, but any event that brings the ‘holy’ into the present.) This is what happened yesterday.
It was Saturday, a lovely day with not too much to do. Two in the afternoon found me sitting in a comfortable lawn chair in our secluded and ‘wild-ed’ back corner near the fire-pit, reading a who-done-it. I didn’t see the groundhog until it was literally at my feet. I’d never seen one before, but I knew it couldn’t be anything else. The low-slung lump of brown/grey fir went under my chair and just sat there. Only Its tail was in sight. I shifted just slightly so I could see a bit more and it shuffled out the open gate and disappeared in the tall grass. (We gave away the lawn mower when we moved here five years ago.)
I’d assumed groundhogs were limited to more rural locales and have never heard of their sighting here in Kingston. What was it doing here? Where did it live? What did it eat? Was the ‘wildness’ of our lot helping it? How many others were around? Was it alone or did it go back to a family?
I was amazed at the whole event. Groundhogs instantly become my favourite animals. It changed my day. And made me think.
Lessons: The ‘impossible’ is always around us, just waiting to jump out, to touch our feet or even sit under us, with only the ‘tail’ visible. Our sense of reality is limited by so many things. We know so little of our surroundings. It’s possible to live and even flourish in an environment that appears to be against you. You don’t need to be in the majority to be yourself.
This ‘happening’ was just what I needed, a real miracle. I’ve been low for some time now. It’s been over a month since my last posted blog, so alone in my goals and values, made powerless by the deterioration of our society and world. I’d lost hope and the accompanying energy to write and share.
Then, along came that damn groundhog, straight to me, to sit right under me! I’m as dense as the next slob, but It’s hard to argue with that kind of sign. Thank-you, God. If that groundhog can survive and find the nerve and energy to keep going, against all the odds, I can surely keep my hopes up and continue to do as I know needs to be done. Thanks for the wonderful Word.
To all of us, let’s keep looking for the ‘groundhogs’, the signs and proofs that give us hope when we have very good reasons to just quit and watch more Netflix. Let’s be reminded by nature that the Impossible happens all the time. And that, as humans, we are able, with others, to do the impossible. That we can enable Love to make our lives and the whole world Holy, however we may define it.
And let us not forget the great miracle of friendship, of one person calling another when they are down, urging them to see and share the miracles that surround them. Thanks, dear friend.
Anthony, smartened up by another of God’s critters and a loving friend. —
