True wisdom, duckling mystery, afraid of the dark, storms

Savanna, at seven-years-old seems always to be wise beyond her years. That expresses itself when anyone engages her in conversation. Her answers to questions and general observations are apropos and often humorous, almost always interesting in perspective. Even though most of those conversations are spontaneous, it is fascinating that she always seems quick to answer – whether or not she has any grasp of the situation or topic of discussion.  While we were on the island of Roatan, Savanna gathered a group of two or three very young children around her one afternoon as she dug a hole in the sand and built a castle around the edges. She calmly assured the parents of those children that they, the parents, were free to go do whatever they wanted to do while the little ones played with her. It was an impressive interaction to witness, but she pulled it off with aplomb.  Of course, Mama, Cori, Mykenzie and I were providing secretive oversight of her and her wards. None of us actually heard the conversation she was having with the parents, but the smiles on their faces was obvious as they engaged Savanna. Savanna is, after all, only seven years old – even though she does not realize what that means in relation to the world around her.

Yesterday Cori shared a story with us about Savanna. In Honduras right now there is a group visiting the clinic associated with the church and children’s home in El Progresso. A medical mission’s team or perhaps an advance team. I am not sure which. One of those participants in this week’s clinical focus is known well by Cori and her family. In a conversation between that young lady and Savanna, the visitor was searching for topics to discuss with Savanna and finally asked what Savanna she had been mostly focused on lately. The answer was school and how many hours she spends in her schoolwork. In that vein, Savanna was asked what new things she had learned recently. The classic Savanna answer was, “Nothing really. I basically know it all.” When Cori and Mykenzie, who had been on the periphery of the conversation began laughing at the response, Savanna, incredulous that her answer was being ridiculed reminded everyone, “Well, I did say ‘basically’”. As if that qualifier resolved the issue. Sometimes true wisdom finds the most unusual vessel for its expression, but the Bible does remind us that truth will come “out of the mouth of babes.” I have suggested to Cori often that it would be worthwhile to capture those Savanna-isms as they are spoken. She has a wonderful , quick and charmingly insightful wit which may soon be overshadowed by social mores as she grows and becomes more aware of those unspoken rules and restrictions. Right now, her freedom to be herself and answer for herself is a marvelous expression of innocent comedy.

Yesterday morning, Mama told me that as she was in the groove of her morning feeding, she opened the lid on the duckling box and did not see the smallest duckling in the box. We assumed that something had killed the tiny duckling and carried it off. The only possible culprits would be a large rat or a snake. Since it is still a little too cool for snakes, we settled on having lost the duckling to a murderous rat. However, this morning, Mama discovered that the little missing duckling had just as mysteriously returned to the box. We do not know where the duckling had gone for the day and overnight, but the return to our little flock was encouraging. For the moment, I do not have to worry about guarding our ducklings from a rat. That, at least, is our hope. We have opened the lid through these warmer days and opened a door on the front of the box that would allow the ducklings access to the yard should they choose to do so. So far, they have been too frightened to walk through that open door.

On that note, I had a somewhat similar experience, but in reverse, with the older ducks. I went out after church to close all the coop doors. When we turned on the yard lights to help with those activities, the ducks came out of their enclosure to see what was going on. Since the light I have on a time in their enclosure was past the hour that we have set, it was off. The enclosure was dark. The glass door on their enclosure was open but it seems there was more light outside than there was inside so the ducks refused to be herded into the enclosure. I tried twice and they rushed past the door each time I got them close. When I realized what the problem might be, I reset the light in the enclosure to turn it on. The next time I got the ducks lined up to run through the opening they decided to do so and I was able to close them in…finally. The lesson learned: make sure the ducks have light in the enclosure when I try to encourage them to go inside for the night.

Strong storms are forecast for our area today. High winds, periods of heavy rain, large hail, and possible tornados. Hopefully, we will get the rain without all the hazardous winds and hail, but we will have to wait and see. At church last night as we were taking prayer requests, one of the men in our church requested prayer for a cousin in central Kansas. His home had been destroyed by a tornado on Tuesday night. Fortunately, the cousin and his family escaped injury, but that kind of loss is hard to deal with. Lord willing, we will not know those kind of losses, but we know we are not exempt from them.

Only God can safeguard us, and we will continue to ask that He do so as well as those we know who may suffer loss in the coming storms. The outcomes are His alone and we will praise Him no matter what.