All Creatures Great and Small

I was asked to start writing "green" articles for my church's newsletter, the Spire. (Please don't judge us by our website!) This is my article for June.

My husband and I went to the Pittsburgh Zoo today. I love the zoo. Until the last year or two of high school, I thought I was going to go to college to become a zoologist. Animals amaze me, and I can’t help but see God’s power and wonder in them.

We walked by the Kodiak bear at feeding time. The zookeeper was throwing entire pieces of fruit – pear and oranges – and the bear was catching them in his mouth and eating them whole. This must not be a big deal with you can grow to weigh upwards of 1,400 pounds, but it awed Jason and me. To be just yards away from an animal of that size, that possessed such raw strength, was overwhelming.

After we watched the Kodiak eat dinner, we watched a mother otter and her baby. They were cuddled together, the baby wiggling and snuggling into the mother, and the mother grooming the baby. I couldn’t help but see God’s compassion and nurturing Spirit were in these two small animals.

I always think of how God nurtures and protects his creations when I look at the weedy seadragon, which looks like a seahorse that started to sprout leaves. When the seadragon swims into the plants in the aquarium, you almost can’t see it. God thought to make the seadragon’s body resemble its habitat so that it could hide from predators.

God thought to provide strength and protection for his creations, but I also think he had fun when creating them. Some of the animals that we saw just looked ridiculous. The ostrich is a silly-looking bird. It is huge – five to nine feet tall – but has a very tiny head. The mandrill is a primate whose snout looks like it was molded out of blue and red plastic. The Reeves muntjac is a tiny deer that is smaller than our dog.

I encourage you to go to the zoo, or just go into your yard, and open your eyes to see God in the creatures around you. Be amazed, be overwhelmed, or just have a good laugh.