We knew it was coming -- not the end of the midterms – it seems like those will go on forever – but the change in the weather. Yesterday morning I was working outside in shirtsleeves sinking over 80 daffodil bulbs, and today it’s that cold damp that we expect in November. The trees are bare and the birds are chirping madly around the feeders.
It’s rutting season, and the two-year-old buck that I’ve been feeding since he was a fawn obviously lost out to another buck in his pursuit of a doe. Only one full antler and what seemed to be a deep gash in his underbelly, he still looked stunned in my back yard. He obviously needed water and some refreshment as he nestled in the grass soft from the rain the day before.
There are times I wish I were like the fictional Dr. Doolittle who could talk to the animals and understand what they want to say to me. This was one of them. After a while, he got up and wandered off, hopefully okay and perhaps to be more careful in his next pursuit.
Prayer for the Day
Welcome us, O God, as Abraham welcomed the strangers,
Wash our feet with the water of your Spirit,
Feed us with the food of your understanding,
Share with us the love and laughter we find in You.
Move us beyond our old ideas of welcome and hospitality,
So we may more truly reflect the One who offered himself to others.
In the name of the One who welcomes all,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
We must welcome the future, remembering that soon it will be the past; and we must respect the past, remembering that it was once all that was humanly possible.
- George Santayana, philosopher (1863-1952)
The soul should always stand ajar, ready to welcome the ecstatic experience.
- Emily Dickinson, poet (1830-1886)
Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.
Letter to the Hebrews, 13: 1-2