The Wild & Wacky
The Squirrel 🐿️
In the forest, there was the Squirrel, a creature of great energy and very little focus (Sounds familar…). The Squirrel gathers its nuts and quickly and nervously buries its nuts. But behold, the Squirrel forgetteth where he hath laid them!!!! And the Creator smiled, for because of the Squirrel’s bad memory, the forests are planted! The forgotten nut becometh an oak tree. Truly, this fulfills
Romans 8:28: "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God."
Even our forgetfulness and our "squirrel brain" moments are being used to plant trees we haven't even seen yet. (For my ADHD friends this is a nice reframe!)
The Pufferfish 🐡
Behold the Pufferfish: a small, humble creature of the reef. But when the enemy draws near, it does not flee in terror? Nay, it swalloweth the sea until it becometh a spike-covered basketball of fury. It is the living out
Psalm 118:5: "I called upon the Lord in distress: the Lord answered me, and set me in a large place."
Except the Pufferfish is the large place. It reminds us that when life tries to swallow us, we can simply "puff up" with the Spirit and become too prickly for the enemy to handle!
The Seahorse 🌊🐴
In the day of the great sorting, the Creator said (this is what happened in my head, lol), "Give me a horse, but make it the size of a chess piece. And give it the tail of a monkey and the pouch of a kangaroo. Also, let the fathers be the ones who go into labor, for I wish to see the look on their faces!!" And so the Seahorse was made! It swimmeth upright, as if it is constantly looking for its lost car keys in the seaweed. It is a creature that proves
1 Corinthians 1:27: "But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty."
We don't have to be a Shark to be mighty. Sometimes, being a tiny, upright horse-fish with a "Dad-pouch" is exactly the kind of strength the world needs! In the Kingdom of God, your "weakness" is usually where God hid your "superpower."
The Squirrel has a terrible memory, but that "flaw" is what reforests the earth. God uses our mistakes to plant future blessings!!
The Pufferfish is slow and "snack-sized," but its vulnerability triggers its greatest defense. God uses our moments of pressure to expand our spirit!!
The Seahorse is a terrible swimmer and doesn't fit the "strong" mold, yet it’s one of the most unique survivors in the ocean. God uses our "weirdness" to show off His creativity!!!
"My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness." (2 Corinthians 12:9)
All three creatures prove that we don’t have to be "normal" or "perfect" to be useful. If you are forgetful (like the squirrel), sensitive (like the pufferfish), or just plain different (like the seahorse), you aren't a weird and wacky. You are a feature! The Creator didn't make them "normal" because "normal" doesn't change the world. He made them specific so they could fulfill a specific purpose that a Lion or a Shark never could!
A Prayer for the Wild and Wacky
Lord of the Trench and the Timberland,
We thank You for the creatures that make us tilt our heads in confusion. Thank You for the Squid 🦑 that uses ink to escape its problems (a temptation we all face) and the Raccoon 🦝 who washes its hands like a tiny, masked surgeon before eating trash! In the forests of our own lives, we often feel like the Squirrel—running in circles, unsure which way to go when a car comes. Help us to trust that even our "missed turns" are planting seeds for the future. In the oceans of our stress, help us to be like the Whale 🐋: to take a deep breath, dive deep, and keep singing our song, knowing that You hear us even in the dark!!!!! Teach us to laugh at the wild and wacky moments of our lives and to find the joy in the weird, wonderful way You put this world together!
Amen.