I have two chickens and two cats. The chickens hang together; not surprisingly, the cats do not. Whenever I hear hisses and growling from the garage, I know Bob has probably invaded Missy’s space. Or, sometimes, it is after he has intentionally stalked her and jumped out from the bushes as she walked by. Bob is having fun; Missy is never amused.
But, in general, my little farm is quite the “racially” mixed environment. The duck, the goat, the chickens, and the donkey move about the barnyard in a happy little community.
When I go to the barnyard, I will be greeted by the whole community: one duck, two chickens, a donkey, and a goat. We usually walk together as I open the gate and join the menagerie. We may go down to the pasture gate, where I check the fences, or they follow me to the hen house to gather eggs. It pleasures me to spend this time with them. I love harmony.
Yesterday, when I opened the door to the nesting box in the chicken coop, I was greeted by another creature who had attempted to join our little community. When I opened the door to the nesting area and peeked in to see if there were eggs in the nest.
What I found was a large black snake snugly coiled in the closest nest. Its tummy was full of eggs, hewas content and had no intention of leaving. For those of you who know my propensity to take in all strays, no, I did not name it and invite it to stay. Finding an aluminum pole on the roof of the little shed, and after a wrestling match with the stick and the visitor, I dismissed Mr. Snake from the pen. Hanging from the pole before being flung to the wind, his long black length dotted by oval shapes.
Yet, with all of the activity going on, my little menagerie simply watched, not in the least dismayed.
Did they understand the situation? Aren’t animals in general skittish when they see a snake? Did the chickens not realize that snake was consuming their eggs?
Ah, yes, of course. I was there. They trusted me. I was in charge and had handled the situation. They did not blame each other for the snake’s existence in their midst, although it could have been avoided, I suppose, if they had been more astute about protecting their own environment. But that is just my own reading of the situation.
I love peace, community, trust, encouragement. Thriving on it, I become distraught when the community begins to fall apart because of disharmony.
Sadly, in our Christian community, we have become so divided that we are unable to trust or encourage each other. Although we have a common Caretaker, we act as though we are in control. We appear to think that one side will get rid of the Snake, while the other side is feeding it, depending upon which side is RIGHT.
And, yet, the truth is that we all desire to be right, we all want the snake to be gone. But we can’t agree on where the snake is or how to get rid of it.
Is this not where the Caretaker comes in? He knows where the evil is and how to get rid of it.
So, what do we barnyard occupants do? What is our weapon? Do we continue to act like my cats? Or do we join hands in PRAYER to our Creator to give us the wisdom (James 1:5) to understand, to give us the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22) to work together, and faith (Hebrews 11:1) to believe that our Caretaker can take care of this world that he has created.