Unexpected Visitors

When you live in a rural area, you get all kinds of four-legged visitors during the night. Where we live, we have seen evidence of deer, coyotes, armadillos, rats, mice, possums, rabbits and raccoons on our property (and sometimes we see the actual animal during the day). We have smelled the evidence of skunks having been nearby (and are happy to say we’ve rarely seen one nearby during the day!).

We recently had a downfall of rain, and then sleet, the latter of which fell for several hours, two days in a row. One morning, after the sleet had melted off the path from our house to the garden, I was walking next to it to avoid slipping on the muddy quagmire when I spotted, in that very mud, a kind of track  that I hadn’t seen before.

It was too big to belong to either a possum or raccoon; besides, I know for certain that raccoons leave little claw prints along with their paws. And it was the wrong shape to belong to a coyote. That left two other possibilities, both of which were equally thrilling and chilling.

My worldly-wise teenage son immediately shot down one of my guesses. “Bears don’t have retractable claws,” he informed me.

So I had my husband look up an image of mountain lion tracks.

He did, and I had my answer.

A mountain lion had come at least within twenty feet of our house the night before, perhaps even passed by the front of it.

Welcome, or not?

People who live in rural areas and have outdoor pets don’t like either mountain lions or coyotes. I myself don’t like the idea of cats eating rats, or coyotes and mountain lions attacking the deer and rabbits. I look forward to the day when the wolf will live with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the goat [Isaiah 11:6].

And even if you don’t have pets (like our family), you’ve heard the horror stories of predatory wildlife attacking people. So to have discovered that one such animal came so close to our house was a bit disconcerting – even though I know that mountain lions, or panthers as they are also called, are among the shyest of the predatory animals in North America and do their best to stay out of sight of humans.

On the other hand, I’ve always liked cats, and appreciate their grace and quiet stealth. And the fact of the matter is, until Yeshua returns to create a perfect, non-violent world, mountain lions and coyotes do a good job in helping keep down the population of the herbivores. There’s nothing inherently scary or evil about predatory animals…as long as you respect them for what they are and behave wisely in relation to their proximity.

Unexpected visitors of the two-legged kind.

Just as there are animals we’re not sure about, so there are certain people in each of our lives about whom we can say the same. We welcome with open arms the overtly friendly ones, or the shy ones who, once we begin talking to them, turn out to be kind people with generous hearts. Those are, shall we say, the rabbits and deer of our lives. They are the ones who are easy to be around, the helpful strangers and the friends who let us cry on their shoulders when we’re going through a crisis.

But other types of people pass through our lives, as well. People who grate on our nerves, who challenge our every belief and opinion, or who seem aloof and distant, and therefore unapproachable. I’m not talking about those who deliberately hurt you, just the ones who seem to have been placed in our path just to make our road a little bumpier.

And we wish weren’t there. Wish we could avoid them.

But what if God sent those people in your way? What if without them, you could not grow into the person God wants you to become?

No one likes to be challenged. No one likes to have to step out of their comfort zone and approach someone who seems unapproachable. But what if, by accepting these challenges and choosing to take the risk of extending a hand of friendliness toward the aloof person, you find a new ally in life? Or, at least, you discover new strength and courage, and gain new wisdom, either about the world or about yourself?

The coyotes and mountain lions and – Lord help us, raccoons! – of our lives aren’t our favorite people to be around. We’re not sure we can trust them, not sure they won’t hurt us.

But they’re here for a reason.

You’re here for a reason. And have you ever thought that you might be somebody else’s coyote, mountain lion, or raccoon?

So, learn to expect the unexpected visitors of life, and to accept their presence. Because God is doing something to you and for you, through them, and God’s end is always, always, the best end that could ever be.

Peace to you, and may blessing abound in every area of your life.