My dog is a better mouser than my cats. She’s collected a number of notches on her belt for little critters who have invaded our space. But we draw the line at rabbits. Rabbits are our friends. I love to watch them silflaying on our lawn in the early morning (think Watership Down).
Yesterday, our dog was surveying her background kingdom when movement in our garden caught her attention. With a mad dash, she flew off the porch and dived between the plants. There was a scuffle and then as I ran after her I saw her snarling at something trapped in the corner between the brick wall and the gate.
I finally got our dog out of her Mighty Hunter mode and corralled in the house and went back to check on the creature. It was a rabbit that was still there in the corner, but it was strangely unharmed. As I got closer, I saw that in escaping the dog the rabbit had (intentionally or not) run straight inside a rat trap cage we had sitting in the back yard. The trap had snapped shut behind it, and although the dog was just on the other side of the wire, the rabbit was not hurt.
I quickly released the rabbit to silflay another day, but I wondered at the irony of it. Although the trap may have saved its life, the rabbit found itself a prisoner after the encounter with the dog. If I hadn’t seen what had happened, the rabbit could have languished in the trap for a long time.
As the rabbit skittered into the bush, I wondered if, when I try to escape my fears, I actually put myself into even worse bondage. There’s a lot that’s terrifying around us today, but some of the methods for fleeing the chaos or numbing the pain may be a worse trap than the original problem.
In these days of chaos and fear, make sure you choose your escape wisely.
“Bring my soul out of prison, so I may praise Your Name” (Psalm 142:8).
BtheLove.
Yesterday, our dog was surveying her background kingdom when movement in our garden caught her attention. With a mad dash, she flew off the porch and dived between the plants. There was a scuffle and then as I ran after her I saw her snarling at something trapped in the corner between the brick wall and the gate.
I finally got our dog out of her Mighty Hunter mode and corralled in the house and went back to check on the creature. It was a rabbit that was still there in the corner, but it was strangely unharmed. As I got closer, I saw that in escaping the dog the rabbit had (intentionally or not) run straight inside a rat trap cage we had sitting in the back yard. The trap had snapped shut behind it, and although the dog was just on the other side of the wire, the rabbit was not hurt.
I quickly released the rabbit to silflay another day, but I wondered at the irony of it. Although the trap may have saved its life, the rabbit found itself a prisoner after the encounter with the dog. If I hadn’t seen what had happened, the rabbit could have languished in the trap for a long time.
As the rabbit skittered into the bush, I wondered if, when I try to escape my fears, I actually put myself into even worse bondage. There’s a lot that’s terrifying around us today, but some of the methods for fleeing the chaos or numbing the pain may be a worse trap than the original problem.
In these days of chaos and fear, make sure you choose your escape wisely.
“Bring my soul out of prison, so I may praise Your Name” (Psalm 142:8).
BtheLove.