It has been over twenty minutes and the barking hasn’t stopped. I know why Bee is barking and I am just going to let her continue until she gets tired and comes in.
About an hour ago, Bee walked through the doggy door with a happy swagger and a dead squirrel in her mouth. She then proceeded to take it over and drop it in her bed. To emphasize her excitement about her catch, she pranced towards me and looked over at her bed with a grin.
I am sure she probably didn’t understand the shriek that I made once I knew that there was a dead animal in my house. The thought of this creature laying in Bee’s bed was too much to bare. I knew I had to get it out immediately before she decided to pick it up and try and hide it.
Thoughts of a situation that occurred several years ago when my cat went missing came rushing into my mind. I didn’t think much about his disappearance because he would go in and out of the house on a regular basis and be gone for days. But one day, when I came through the door, I noticed a smell that just didn’t seem right. After a couple of minutes, I also noticed several flies swishing above me. Then it hit me. I was alone and knew I had to go in search of my cat.
After a brief pursuit, I found him under my daughter’s bed. I won’t go into detail but it wasn’t pretty. I freaked out and ran out of the room. Then I called a good friend who was willing to come over with her husband to remove the caucus. Later, once my husband came home, he buried our precious cat in the back yard.
This squirrel isn’t my pet but it was still difficult to actually move it. I had to cover it with a paper towel and take the bed outside. Then I tossed it over the fence so that Bee couldn’t get to it. This is when the barking began and went on and on.
Bee just couldn’t figure out why I had taken her prey away from her. She kept looking up at me, with a pleading stare between the barking spells.
Before judging Bee too harshly, I have to think about what God must think when He looks down on us and the decisions we make. We may not drag in a dead squirrel into the house but I believe God finds our sin even more repulsive. We need to remember how unlike we are to God and that He thinks very differently than we do.
Isaiah 55:8 states: “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.”
As I reflect on the decision that Bee made with the squirrel, it helps remind me that I need to take a closer look at my own decisions and how God thinks of them. From now on, I will consider if God is shrieking from above at the choices I make. But for now, Bee just walked in smacking her lips. Better check it out.
