I did not ask our farm sitters to take Poppy on worm hunts while we were away on vacation. Call me crazy, but I thought that might be asking a little too much of our sitters. Poppy went a week without our fabulous worm hunting adventures. So – one of my first farm activities upon returning home was to invite Poppy on a hunt!
She never missed a beat – a week away was not enough to erase the memory of delightful, fat worms and slugs just waiting to be eaten when revealed under the secret snack places. We didn’t have much luck in the pasture, so I scooped Poppy up and headed to the compost pile. Poppy snuggled in for the short walk to the worm-infested, life-giving, nutritious pile of composted goodness. I set her down and she wasted no time scooping past the soft dirt to find a mouthful of wonderful red-wigglers. I’m sure she would have quacked her delight but her bill was too full of worms to make a sound.
A few minutes later, one of the barn cats joined us at the compost pile. With the arrival of the cat, Poppy stopped eating. She stool very still, very alert, no longer enjoying her treat. Zeek wasn’t a threat to Poppy. I was supervising. Even if he thought about it, I wasn’t going to let Zeek hurt Poppy. But Poppy didn’t know this. She saw a predator and therefore engaged her natural defensive instincts.
We have all learned defensive strategies of our own. We have learned how to protect our hearts, souls and egos. We equate “defensiveness” with “survival”. The problem with being defensive, is that we engage our walls and strategies when an attack is perceived, whether it is real or not. And just surviving isn’t the same as thriving in life.
Defensiveness maintains our blind spots. Our walls go up and we don’t listen. When our minds are closed to the voice of God (and/or to fellow believers), we can’t hear a new message. “Defensive” also means opposing, preventing, resisting, safeguarding… There are times when this is an appropriate response – but growing in faith requires us to lower our defenses so God can do some work in us. That work might be painful, but it is the only way to grow the roots of FAITH that will keep us strong and make us better.
Poppy was frozen on a pile of the best food she’d had in a week. She couldn’t enjoy the feast beneath her feet because she was disabled by fear of an attack. We can trust that Jesus knows what He is doing. He knows, better than we do, exactly what we need – even if what we need is a challenging situation. You can lower your defenses. Jesus is walking WITH you through whatever you are facing. And He has a feast prepared for you that you can’t even imagine. Don’t miss it.
“Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.” Rev. 3:20
