Father, expected sad news has come. Comfort the family in their loss. Comfort us all…
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The other morning on my elementary route, I saw an opossum on the side of the road. It was alive but you could tell that it wasn’t far from not being so. More than likely, it had been hit by a vehicle, not enough to kill but enough to cripple it hastening death’s approach.
I am thinking that someone I know recently commented on having a pet opossum, or at the very least having a disposition to them. From many other conversations I have had, they would be one of the thousands who cannot stand them. Most people find them ugly and reprehensible with a little bit of creepy mixed in. They tend to throw them into the same category as rats. With their hairless tails and rough appearance, I suppose it’s easy to do.
I wouldn’t want to run across one in my yard in the dark hours of the morning, but I’ve come to appreciate them much more than I used to. They will catch and eat cockroaches, rats, and mice – in addition to consuming dead animals of all types. Gardeners appreciate opossums’ appetite for snails, slugs and for cleaning up over-ripe fruit and berries. (The kill all kinds of snakes, too!)
Another great benefit to our ecosystem is that because they are excellent groomers (who knew?!), they kill more than 95% of the ticks that try to feed on them! They’re like natural little vacuum cleaners eating an estimated 5,000 ticks in a season! What a great benefit they are!
But would you help an injured opossum if you saw one? Most of us would have to say no…they don’t really bite – though they may hiss to look scary and fear of them having rabies is silly. Rabies is extremely rare in opossums, perhaps because they have a much lower body temperature compared to other warm-blooded animals.
Though it may be strange, I can’t help but see myself in the opossum lying beside the road that morning. Hurt by the world and cast aside with no thought or care – from a spiritual perspective in particular. The devil just laughs, and the rest of humanity is in the same boat as I.
Only Jesus cares. He stops. He embraces. He loves. I, in my desperate and hopeless state, surely don’t deserve any of it. But He is there for me as no one else can be.
I know that you will not find opossums in the Bible, but will you bear with me for just a moment? In Luke 12:6-7 Jesus said,
“What is the price of [an opossum] …? Yet God does not forget a single one of them. And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole [passel of opossums]. NLT [paraphrase mine]
What can I say, Lord Jesus, I am Yours and Yours alone, for You first loved me…
Mar 17th, 2022, Thurs, 12:48 pm
