All Creatures Great and Small

I've been trying to be diligent in my quest for 10,000 steps a day. In a two week period, I've succeeded three times, two of those days being Saturdays. It's amazing how many steps are involved in wandering through the grocery story and mowing the lawn! On the other days, I average around 8,000 steps. But that is with a conscientious effort in going on an early morning walk through the neighborhood and a vigorous session on the treadmill at night.

I love the early morning walks. Right now, it is light enough to feel secure and safe in the journey. Because, you know, there are dangers out there...speeding cars, ferocious dogs, criminals, and cracks in the sidewalk! I will probably be accused by neighbors and friends of not waving to them as they drive by on their way to work. The truth is: I do not have my head down to avoid eye to eye contact with every worker heading to HAFB at 6:00 a.m. I am really needing to make eye to eye contact with the uneven segments of cement below my feet. One second of false security and I go "splat" on the sidewalk. I don't want to find out which would hurt more, my ego or the fragile bones of my body?

Another reason I keep focused on the ground below me: critters...creepy, crawling critters. Side note: do any of you remember the Creepy Crawlers toy? Take one little baking device...fill a spider or bug mold with colored goo...bake for a specified minute...and voila...you have rubbery, creepy crawlers to hide in sister's bed! Okay, back to my dialogue. If I don't pay attention, I could be the means of destruction for many crawlers who are going about their business on their sidewalk of life. Ants, worms, bugs, spiders, millipedes...you name it. They all think they will make it back home after their jaunt to "wherever" they may be going. Lo and behold, here comes a heavy Nike foot to "squash" their hopes.

Perhaps those of you who are smarter than me will know the answer. Do bugs think? Is there some kind of tiny brain cell in the body of a mosquito, or a lady bug, or a grasshopper? Do they have beating hearts? Or what exactly is in their physical makeup that triggers an instinct to move four legs and then another four legs, or to create a hive? I am the first to admit, I do not understand the hows and whys of all of God's creations. But I have enough respect for them that I don't want to destroy those creatures. Well, all except the ants. I can walk on a pile of ants without even thinking. But I try to step around the potato bugs and the worms each morning. Besides, I really don't like the sight of smeared centipede juice, or the sound of cracking cricket carcasses.

What has all of this to do with my Grace Notes this week? A few weeks ago, Mom was kind enough to attend Cancer Survivor's Day with me at McKay Dee Hospital. Some celebrations throughout the world involve magnanimous service projects or days at an amusement park. But Ogden, Utah...we are very low key. Our celebration day includes a guitar player, a few speakers and lunch. If you are really adventurous, you can participate in Wi golf in the adjoining room. It's not a celebration that makes news, but it is something I want to be involved in...simply because I did survive and want to celebrate that accomplishment. This year's theme was The Chain of Survival. As we went in, I was asked to put my name on a paper cutout of a person. I also put Mom's name on a different colored person. Physicians were another color, and volunteers in the health community were yet another. They pasted all these paper dolls side by side, hand in hand down the hallway. The idea is we all work together to survive...not just in cancer, but in life.

Mrs. Daddy Long Legs has no clue that my decision yesterday morning to walk around, or over her, allowed her to survive another day. As human beings, we have been given dominion over "every living thing that moveth upon the earth" (Moses 2:28) There's a certain level of responsibility with that command. However, I don't want anyone to feel guilty about the fly swatter that is hanging on the hook in the kitchen closet. And don't even think about the voices you may be hearing from Mr. Fly ("Help me, help me...") I've done my share of nuking a swarm of wasps with RAID. What I am saying is...wow...what a wonderful world with such diversity of life.

Spring is a time of destroying the weeds, but planting the garden. We eradicate the ant hill erected at the bottom of the steps, but rejoice in hanging a bird feeder from the porch. We build the deluxe Marriott-style coop for the chickens and then we have them for dinner. It's all part of the plan of survival. In the pecking order of animal life, I am grateful I'm at the top of the food chain and not at the bottom with the eensy weensy spider. The next time you are out for a walk, be aware of the variety of life all around you and wonder at the miracle of God's creations, all creatures great and small.