The chipmunk is really busy right now. When I see him, his jowls are stuffed with nut meats to be stored for the winter. There are a lot of them around the house. I suppose I should be concerned about where they are doing their storing. We may find in the spring our gutters clogged. Or we may hear the pitter-patter of little feet in our ceiling some winter night. But I am not really concerned. I like sharing the earth with furry or feathery creatures of God’s. I don’t want them doing damage to my abode, however. Nor do I want them living inside my abode. There are limits to my sharing.
One chipmunk came very close to my feet as I sat on the porch this morning. I wondered what I would do if he were to treat my leg as a tree trunk to run up. He didn’t, lucky for him. This would have been one tree he’d never want to encounter again.
I did some investigating on line this morning. I learned that the chipmunk is inquisitive about everything that comes into its life. I could say the same thing about myself. I read that they want to do everything in their own time and don’t like being told what to do. Wow, I am thinking I have a lot in common with this little critter. They run about, first in one direction and circle back to where they started from. I thought this tendency was related to old age, actually. On the other hand, the chipmunk is “content to live under your porch or near stone foundations for warmth.” Contentment is a quality I have developed in these later years. Acceptance and gratitude are prerequisites for happiness, I finally have learned. It seems the chipmunk knew this all along but humans are slow learners. Chipmunks are nut gatherers. Oh, you should meet some of the nuts I gather! They gather nuts in preparation for the cold winter. I am not sure whether I want the nuts I gather around for the whole winter. No, seriously, I love nuts or I wouldn’t be gathering them.
I read that if a chipmunk visits you it may indicate a time to tighten your spending habits, and put more into savings. Bernie and I have already been talking about this. Our granddaughter is now engaged and will probably marry out of the country somewhere. We agreed that we have to do some saving if we hope to be able to attend her wedding. I also read that if a chipmunk or family of chipmunks live in your yard, you are likely to be blessed with abundance. (Bernie, put the shotgun down!)
It is suggested that if you are visited by the chipmunk you should carry your nutrition with you, keep new projects secret and always have more than one exit. I have already been developing a practice of bringing food in my car when I go about. It keeps me from doing drive-throughs. As for the part about new projects, I was going to tell you but now I guess I will just keep these to myself. Having “more than one exit”… now what does one do with that?
You may wonder about my paying so much attention to nature this way. Jesus did, of course. He learned lessons from the birds about accepting life as it is and from the fig tree about the importance of bearing fruit in one’s life. He learned about the influence of environment by observing how seeds will sprout in some surroundings and not in others. When a dove showed up at his baptism in the river, he interpreted that as a message from his Father. I think it was his hope that his followers would learn to hear God in all things the way he did.
(If you are curious about the critters who come to visit you, I learned about the chipmunk today form the website of Spirit Walk Ministry.)
What a wonderful site!!