During one of my stints at home, I had the luxury of relaxing with David in the hammock for a few minutes - and it was lovely. I could have stayed awhile longer, except for the fact that the lawn service, in tending to the lawn next door, managed to scare up a baby bunny who took flight from the mower's maw only to catch the interest of Pringle. Yes, Pringle, the almost-10-year-old Golden Retriever who wouldn't hurt a fly, who makes only a passing effort at "chasing" squirrels when they wander into our yard, who can't even be bothered to play fetch - THAT Pringle suddenly took off after the aforementioned bunny like a bat out of hell.
Before I knew what was happening, he was in the neighbors' yard (Hey, thanks, neighbors, for leaving your gate open!) and not only cornering, but CAPTURING baby bunny. I jumped up as soon as I realized he was in the other yard and that he meant business - ran pell mell straight at him yelling, "Pringle! No! Pringle! NO!" I managed to intercept him as he returned to our yard - I think to show me his prize. I grabbed him by the collar and yelled, "Drop!" And he did - bless his heart - he did exactly what a retriever is supposed to do. Then I dragged him inside (he wasn't particularly pleased by that - he wanted to play with his new toy.) I returned to check on the status of the bunny, hoping that maybe - just maybe - he was just scared/in shock. Sadly, Little Bunny Foofoo's pupils were fixed and dilated. There was a puncture wound on his chest - so either that, or the fright of it all, was just too much. I picked him up gently (in gloved hands) and deposited him in the yard waste bin. Hopefully he's found his way to Bunny Heaven and is hopping around in clover with all the other little bunnies now.
I couldn't be mad at Pringle. He was just doing what dogs do - well, what most dogs do. I had to hand it to him - he impressed me. I do believe that's his first ever capture/kill. Didn't know the old feller had it in him. Not only that, but he got me running at a full out sprint across the yard in my efforts to play Bunny Savior. Which felt kind of good, I have to admit, even in its futility. It reminded me that I really do need to get back to running.
Which brings me back to the first paragraph - different kind of running. The kind which can be the wrong kind of running if your focus is in the wrong place. It reminded me of my second official blog post: How Pooh Are You? wherein I was reminded that running around like Rabbit, being "extremely busy and very important" isn't who or how I want to be. I don't think I realized it at the time, but trying to get back to a more Pooh-like place, was just another way of searching for peace.
Interestingly, that was one of the primary themes at church today. The pastor walked us through the parable of the alabaster jar. I won't go through the whole message - it had several different facets (and is worth the watch if anyone cares to view it when they post the podcast link tomorrow.) But at the end of it, Jesus says to the woman, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace." And I was reminded of the peace that walking with Him brings.
So, that sort of stayed with me today, despite all my running. It reminded me, instead of being harried and hassled, to be grateful for the fact that I had a beautiful day like today - I awoke to the birds chirping, I enjoyed a nice church service with David, I enjoyed time with both him and Riley, I checked a few things off my "To Do" list, and now, I'm free to sit on the patio, peck away at the keyboard and write this all out, while enjoying the new mason jar/fire fly garden lights we installed this weekend, and listening to the tree frogs chirp their evening song. It's been a blessed day.
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