Last Tuesday, I met Steve at the Gazebo Park. This Park is a lovely oasis bordered by the banks of the Phillippi Creek and busy U.S. 41. Steve and I are good friends. We get together for lunch, to talk shop, philosophize, ruminate, plot and plan, brag about our latest grandchild!

I often go, late at night, and sit under one of the triple gazebos. I see raccoons, foxes, owls, skateboarders, skaters, etc. I prefer the former to the latter! (g)

While Steve and I were talking, I noticed a peregrine falcon swoop from the woods with a large mouse/small rat in his beak. Following him, and often dive bombing him, was another much smaller bird. It appeared that his mission was to somehow get the falcon to drop his prey, thus providing a meal for the midget interloper.

As I told Steve about the scene that had just transpired behind his field of vision, I thought of other instances in nature that seemed very similar. When Pat and I went to Sea World for my birthday, there were egrets, herons, and pelicans sharing the stage with the trainers at the dolphin show. One of the gals said that the birds that showed up were not part of Sea World or their show. They were there to pick up the little pieces of fish dropped by the trainers or somehow missed by the dolphins. Moochers, right? They strutted around as if they were on salary and part of the show.

I also recalled watching an osprey “attacking” a bald eagle at another nearby park early one morning. The eagle did let go of the fish and the osprey flew down and grabbed it before it hit the ground.

These scenarios have a common thread. There were primary hunter/actors who were actively working at getting their next meal. There were secondary hangers-on who were trying their best to benefit from the hard work of another and get something for nearly nothing.

In the scriptures, we read the story of a fella we call “The Prodigal Son”. After he took his inheritance, went to a far land, and squandered it on riotous living, he said that he’d be glad to just come back and eat the crumbs off his father’s table. Still wanting a nearly free and easy ride?

These thoughts made me wonder if all of us don’t look for “easy pickins'” sometimes. We don’t want to pay the price to become a spiritual giant, so we surround ourselves with folks who do pay the price. We hope that enough of their “leftovers” will spill our direction and either make us look like “one of the guys/gals” or actually meet our needs. We go to meetings and join in worship and praise, going through all the right motions, but lacking that inner, steely resolve to spend the necessary time and energy to really experience God for ourselves.

We need to “get our own gig”. This means we hunt our own food, find our own areas in which to serve – we develop our very own personal relationship with God and quit basking in the reflected light of others.

God will undoubtedly give you some further insights. Please share!  Use the “Leave a Reply” box below!

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