In the first week of October 2017, America’s deadliest mass shooting happened. I journaled about how the world had lost its way and that these frightening tragedies occurred far too often. Instead of being obedient to my calling in Christ to be a light in an ever-darkening world, I only wanted to barricade myself in my home. God, in his kindness however, sent me elephant ears and deer to remind me of His faithful care.
The first reminder involved two wrens I had watched all summer fly toward the left side of the porch and disappear. I thought they had babies in a nearby boxwood bush. Multiple times, I searched the boxwood, looking for their nest, but never found it. Fall arrived, and the petunias and elephant ears in a planter box on my porch started to fade. Only then did I discover their abandoned nest tucked behind the colorful flowers. It rested beneath a large elephant ear roof, sheltered from storms by the solid wall of my home.
The second reminder was the deer that loved to graze in the backyard. Sometimes, I inadvertently allowed the dog out before noticing them. Their leisurely meal interrupted by a baying dog, they fled into the woods, their white tails a flashing beacon of their escape progress. Once the dog was sure he had firmly established his territorial boundaries, he proudly panted back to me for an ear rub and praise.
What made this October day different was the presence of a small, wobbly-legged, spotted fawn. My dog tried his usual well-coordinated make-loud-noises-and-charge-headfirst-assault strategy, but today, momma deer had a baby to guard, and she was going nowhere. Instead, she placed herself between her child and my dog in a head-down, hoofs-pawing, bring-it-on protective stance. My dog wisely decided to follow the idiom “live to fight another day” and submissively tucked his tail between his legs and returned swiftly to me.
Won’t a God who so amazingly provides for and protects the tiniest and most helpless of His creatures, much more care for you? He will, as the psalmist relates (Psalm 91:4). His faithfulness is great. Trust Him.
Mary Margaret Dixon grew up on a farm in middle Tennessee, the second in a family of six children. She is married and has two sons. She enjoys making ugly spaces beautiful and devoting countless hours to the comfort of her dog, a sparkle-shedding, velvet-eared partial beagle.