One of the great things about winter is that hungry animals venture out in search of food. For the past few months, the birdfeeders outside the kitchen window at my house have been regularly patronized by a group (a scurry?) of jet-black gray squirrels. My father has lovingly nicknamed them Larry, Curly, and Mo.
Squirrels live all over the world and are very common sights in gardens, backyards, and even urban areas. Yes, they can be considered pests, but these bushy-tailed rodents are undeniably cute and comical. These critters always make me smile, whether bouncing along on the ground, scampering around on trees, or making daredevil leaps from branch to branch. I recently witnessed one squirrel nonchalantly hanging upside down from its feet on the trunk of a pine tree, casually resting its elbows on the trunk and munching some sort of tasty snack. Later, I learned that squirrels can rotate their ankles backward, allowing them to climb down trees headfirst. Other mammals (like cats, for example) can’t do this, making climbing down much trickier than climbing up.
Squirrels remind me that God the Creator is an excellent designer with a sense of humor. He, after all, outfitted them with tails to use as umbrellas and counterweights, with rotating ankles to allow them to flee quickly up and down trees, and some even with the ability to ‘fly.’ But the same design that makes them well adapted to survive in the wild also makes them amusing to watch. I am absolutely convinced that God laughs with us at the antics of some of the wackier creatures that populate the earth.
This is often something we tend to forget about God—that He enjoys His creation. We tend to be (rightly) very aware of the awesomeness of God—His holiness, omnipotence, and fearsomeness. But the same God whose wrath “terrifies” the nations (Psalm 2:5), also made squirrels, and giraffes, and flamingos, and flowers, and blob fish (If you haven’t heard of blob fish before, please search for an image. They are considered one of the ugliest animals in existence, but in a cute way…). In Genesis, God called His creation good. He made these creatures for Himself and for us to enjoy.
He not only enjoys them; He cares for them too. And He cares for us. Matthew 6:26 tells us that God watches over even the smallest of His creatures: “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?” And in Matthew 10:29-31, He reiterates that if God watches over the birds, He will watch over us too: “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.” These verses use birds as examples to show how God cares for His creation. He not only watches over the sparrows but all other living things. But humans are the most precious to Him of all His creation. If God loves sparrows and squirrels, He also loves you, who are worth much more.
So what can squirrels teach us about God? God is an amazing designer with a sense of humor. God cares for and enjoys all his creatures. And God cares for and enjoys us too.