A couple of weeks ago, I told some friends that I had a new reality show that I had begun to watch and they laughed at me. Not because, in general reality shows are garbage (except for maybe The Apprentice and American Idol), but because the reality show I was referring to, called "Meerkat Manor" was about a family of Meerkats. Oh I see, you think that is funny too. Well this is a cool little show so you should check it out. I have always loved animal shows. In fact watching shows about animals is far more interesting than shows about people AND believe it or not, animals tell us alot about how we as humans, the supposedly more superior creature, should live. Have you ever used the term, "dumb ol' animal"? In fact animals are not "dumb" at all, they just do what they do and that is survive.
I have learned a few things from animals, even the little Meerkats and I would like to share just a few things:
1 - Sisterhood! - If women would work together, we could achieve some things, like saving our children...did I hear somebody say "do our children need saving?" Uh...yeah they do. Anyway, let's talk about the lioness. When hunting needs to be done, the lioness does not go at it alone. She and her sisters tag team the hunting. They work together to feed the little baby lions. They help take care of each others cubs. They even keep each others cubs in line. Even elephants will nurse another baby elephant if that baby's mother dies.
Heaven forbid, somebody says something to your child in chastisement. It's on! Nowadays, working together to bring up baby is difficult b/c everyone has different views on what is best. For the lioness, if the babies spend more time playing than learning, they will not survive. If the orphan elephant is not adopted, it will die. If we don't learn to care about all children not just our own, the generation coming along is going to die, not just physically, but spiritually and emotionally.
2 - Tough Love is okay! - Now I know I don't have any kids but I got a brain and I do know right from wrong. And I certainly know coddling and pampering when I see it. Some parents think letting kids make mistakes is child abuse. So how is this for child abuse...let's talk about the black bear. Believe it or not, black bears have predators, such a pack of wolves. Now normally if a wolf is gonna attack, he isn't going for the mama, it is much easier to go after the cub. So what does mama do? Now don't get mama wrong, she will fight that pack to the death but the cubs have got to be out of harms way. So at a young age, she teaches them how to climb trees. So what's so tough about that?
Imagine making your kids climb trees that are much higher than they really ought to be climbing. In fact, one slip and the little cub is a goner and all mama can do is watch and wait to see if her litte one will go up and come down safely or plumment to its death. Now the cubs don't really want to do this tree climbing lesson, they'd rather play but she makes them climb that tree on their own anyway. There is no time for whining and tantrums are useless. When the time comes, and the wolves are circling, the baby cubs climb the trees like little pros out of harms way. Mama bear knows best.
Imagine how much more prepared our children would be for life's obsticles if we were like that mama bear...
3 - Don't mess with Jr! - Another thing a mama bear will do is fight an overgrown male bear which is twice her size if he comes too close to her cubs. Oh yeah, male bears don't really care about cubs, in fact, they would like to have the cubs for dinner. But mama ain't having it. She might be smaller but she would rather die than let a male bear harm her baby. And the cool thing is, most of the time, the male bear usually backs down cause an angry mama bear is no joke.
Now look at today, you see on Dr. Phil and Oprah or you know children that were victims while Mom sat back and did nothing. That my friends is not natural! The male bear can represent many things, molestation, abuse, drugs, violence, TV, music...anything that threatens to harm a child. It just so happens, bear cubs have fewer things to worry about, either way, mama bear knows how to protect them. How much smarter and fiercer are human mamas? Come on Mom, fight that male bear who is after your cub. If God put that protective instinct in a bear, you know you got what it takes to save your child. Don't give up!
4 - Long live the King! I love to watch any show with the BIG Cats! I was watching one about the lions. As stated before females do the hunting and tend to the babies. In fact, the female lioness, will hunt all day and bring home a kill and guess who comes along and gets first servings? Yep the king of the jungle. At first, I was like, so who does the lion think he is? He sleeps all day and then eats the kill after having done none of the work. So I am thinking, this is no king, this is a bum! But I soon learned why the Lion is the king. You see, the lion doesn't eat all the food, he leaves some for his family. But scavengers, like hyenas, want it all. And hyenas don't travel alone, they come in gangs. Unlike human hunting, real lioness hunters expend alot of energy hunting, so they are not really up for fighting hyenas over food. Besides, hunting and fighting do not require the same skills.
But the KING is ready. He is no hunter but he is a fighter. There is no animal in the jungle who can beat a fully grown male lion in a fight, not one! (And that is not including elephants because elephants and lions don't fight! Lions aren't dummies either) Anyway, a male lion is the Protector of the Pride. That is his job. He will go to battle for everyone in the pride against any animals including other lion prides. So the king isn't lazy like I thought, he just has different priorities. Sometimes the lionesses get alittle ticked off but they know who keeps them safe.
So imagine a world of men who knew their priorites. Protecting their families no matter what. So many single family homes where the women are the hunters and the fighters. Different set of skills needed which is probably why it is hard to do both. Not saying it can't be done, it is just harder. Men have got to stop leaving women to do the job of the lion. Who would protect the pride if the little male lion cubs never had the big males to watch and learn from? It is not the lionesses who teach them how to fight, hunt maybe but not fight. The pride would be in serious trouble. Are you all following where I am going? Good.
5 - For the Good of the Family! Let's talk about the little meerkats. Whatever happens in a meerkat clan, it is all for the good of the family. If it doesn't add to the well being of the family, it is cut off. Meerkats are little guys with no major way of protecting themselves other than vigilance and cooperation. Meaning searching for food is a dangerous task if no one is keeping watch. Now in the world of meerkats, there is a leader and the leader is a female. She is the breeder and directs the little clan in attempts to keep them safe. If any of the others, in particular a female usually her offspring, steps out of line, she is banished and not accepted back into the clan. Life as a lone meerkat is lonely and dangerous. But interuptions in the family way of doing things can be costly so there is no room for rebellion. It is a matter of life or death. Although, sometimes a repentent meerkat is accepted back into the clan. But she must submit to the leader. Only then can she experience the safety of the family.
This piece of meerkat life makes me think of something alot deeper and on a more spiritual level.
John 15:1-2 1"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.
Like meerkats family, some of us will either be pruned or cut off by God. I think those who are willing to repent will be let back in the fold but the rebellious ones will eventually be cut off. In the world of a meerkat, a predator comes in all forms...owls from the sky, snakes from the ground. It takes the whole family to watch out and protect the babies as well as gather food. It is called survival. Rather than have one mess up the sanctity of the family, the rebels have to be cut off. For me, surviving is living under God's protection anything outside of that is rebellion - like a lonely meerkat trying to figure out how to keep watch and gather food. It's a hard tough life.
6 - Darwin never watched Animal Planet! Okay all you evolutionist, get mad and stay mad but I am here to say, Darwin didn't watch animal planet, therefore I say he got it all twisted. The main reason I watch animal shows because it confirms for me what a MIGHTY GOD I serve. Oh yeah, I hear testimonies all the time of things God has done for other people and I am like "Go God!", but after watching an animal show, I am always in AWE!
Each and every living creature has its own way of doing things and it own unique little means of survival. For example, there is a cricket like bug who can survive extreme cold...You know how? It freezes itself. Yep, it freezes itself so the cold weather doesn't harm it. Once the cold weather passes, it unthaws and goes about its business. It can stay in this mode for weeks. Can you freeze yourself? I didn't think so.
Each species of animal copes with life its own special way. Does it always work out? Not all the time, but that isn't even true for man. Anyway, the thought that all animals including man, came from one cell is borderline ridiculous and insane. Only an all wise, omnipotent God can create with such precision and accuracy each animal and their traits. What is funny to me is why it is so much easier to believe all these unique animals came from one cell than to believe a Great God took time to make each creature special. I don't know about you but I feel pretty special and it ain't cause I came from an ape!
Psalm 8
For the director of music. According to gittith.
1 O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens.
For the director of music. According to gittith.
1 O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens.
2 Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.
3 When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;
4 What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?
5 For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.
6 Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet:
7 All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field;
8 The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.
9 O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!
