Photo and Commentary ©2023 by Maylan Schurch
Friday, May 26, 2023
What you see above is a photo close to what, for several years, Shelley and I have longed to achieve. But let me set the stage.
First, the fence. It encloses the backyard of a family who announces by posted sign that it has declared its yard a wildlife habitat. What’s visible beyond the fence is a bit deceiving. It looks like wild, uncharted forest, but it’s actually the family’s backyard.
On top of the fence, you see the rusty metal silhouette of a squirrel. Real squirrels of at least three varieties race along the top of that fence almost every time we walk by, and our chief hope has been to have our smartphone cameras ready in case a real squirrel would pause to stand nose-to-nose with the metal one. Alas, this has not yet happened, and it’s no doubt something of a long shot.
However, in mid-April of this year, we caught the next best pose. I had the phone camera hot and ready when a squirrel raced along the fence and passed in front of the metal one. It looks for all the world as though they’re racing. Cute!
What or who are you racing? For the top job at a company? For the top salary? For a bonus? For a better car, a bigger house?
Ambition isn’t all bad, of course. The desire to create quality isn’t either. You and I live in mind-chillingly magnificent “homes” and “vehicles” already—our marvelous bodies, created by a creative Perfectionist. Which is why we need to remember that anything else we’re racing madly toward might end up as so much rusty tin.
Because the Bible makes it clear that what you and I need isn’t bigger-and-better, but contentment. Click the link just below: