A Small Bird Visits for An Early Morning Feast
All animals on this planet help forge a living energy chain, tying together the power of Nature to the manifestation of life. From the lowliest ant to the largest mammal, Earth animals support our human existence. They are the conduits through which vital Earth energy passes. Gregge Tiffen (It’s Springtime: Flow with the Power of Nature – April, 2007)
As the new year dawned, an event occurred that required me to a make a choice about whether to save (or at least attempt to) an animal. Thus, this week’s muse doesn’t take me to the land of goals and commitment and action in the way that an early January post typically does.
The small animal, possibly a bird, a mouse or another species of small critter, had somehow found its way into an interior wall of the house. The fluttering and thumping sounds indicated that it was desperately trying to find its way back to the point of entry (a point I have yet to find).
A friend was visiting at the time. We prayed, calling on Spirit and other nature beings to bring energetic support and help the critter escape. If this being couldn’t find the way out, the only possibility for rescue was cutting a hole in the wall near the sound and hoping the poor creature could get to that opening where we would be waiting with a box to relocate it back to the woods.
The wall contains numerous electrical boxes and wires, so cutting required tools and experience that I don’t have. I needed the help of someone more skilled than I but calls to friends and helpers on my list turned up empty. In hindsight, that’s no surprise as I was torn. I wanted to save the animal, yet I wondered whether the expense of cutting a hole then repairing it was worth it. Especially with no guarantee that the creature would survive.
In the end, I made the choice to abandon an attempted rescue. In doing so, I find myself humbled by facing the reality, once again, that my love of nature and the animal kingdom has limits. As millions (half a billion at the last count I heard) of creatures are dying and more threatened by the bush fires in Australia, did I fail to take an action that might have made a difference in the delicate chain that is life on our planet? Everything matters you know.
Did I compromise my integrity in the choice that I made? What does ‘worth it’ even mean? If as Gandhi once said, “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way in which its animals are treated,” how did I measure up in this instance? While I won’t beat myself up over my choice or these questions, they are worthy of exploration.
The event was a powerful reminder that everything matters. No event (and no creature) is too small to not teach me something. Now, it’s up to me to decide how I will use and apply that learning.
Before the snow …