Flag Day

Iddy biddy wabbits are busy nibbling off the grass in our back yard.  They're about the size of my fist.  A few years back when I was still working, we had a wild bunny here that would scamper to the front yard every morning right before I'd back the car out of the driveway.  It was the sweetest thing, and I made all sorts of silly assumptions about this daily farewell.

Yesterday two young sparrows were sitting on a tree branch beside the patio.  They just sat there.  Hmmm.  I'll just bet they're waiting for their mama to bring them something to eat.  Sure enough, mama flew to the branch, and I watched her feed them beak-to-beak.  Mother Nature once again quietly displaying the attributes of motherhood. 

I had been busy in the house putzing right before this.  The fuzzy one wanted to go outside, so I stopped what I was doing and we took a break.  It was while I was reclining in one of the lounge chairs that this mama sparrow was feeding her little ones.  My first thought was to whisper a thank-you to Mother Nature for encouraging me to sit down for a few minutes.  She was about to put on a live performance, that would otherwise have gone by without an audience.

Today, June 14, is National Flag Day.  Let's all ratchet up our patriotism a notch or two.  It is so easy these days to plunge in a sea of despair with rising costs, loss of jobs, higher education, the furious national debt, the wars and giving of lives.  I'm the first one to nod my head that our country is changing in ways that are frightening.  We just have to pull together instead of pulling in opposite directions, party against party, race against race, religion against religion.  Whether we like to admit it or not, we're all in this basket together and we need to be pulling on the same end of the rope. 

America's flag is a freedom flag.  Sometimes we let ourselves get sidetracked and don't really think about the everyday freedoms that we have here in America.  When we watch little kids run down the sidewalk, or drive their little tricycles as fast as their little legs can pedal them, that's freedom.  There are countries where children aren't allowed to do that. When we go for a Sunday drive, as a family, that is a freedom many people in our world do not have.  Dictators tell their citizens where they can and can't go by themselves.

I personally feel that Our Creator will continue to protect and care for us Americans, but, when we start acting like spoiled brats, I really think that we might see what it's like on the other side of the fence where our freedom flag does not fly.  A good parent provides appropriate consequences for misbehavior.  That is how we all learn.  If Our Creator sees that nothing is quite good enough for us, and we aren't appreciating our abundance, He just might pull the plug and let us learn the hard way. 

If I could choose one national platform, I would fight against the waste of food.  If we proclaim to be Christians and follow the words of the Bible, then we must know about manna, the edible substance that God provided for the Israelites during their travels in the desert.  Food was and is a sacred life necessity.  Somehow during the last fifty plus years food has become this expected luxury to pick and choose, misuse and abuse.  Maybe the price of groceries should continue to go up until we learn to eat all that we have on our plates, or else learn to use the Tupperware that keeps falling out of our cupboards.  (See 50 ways to never waste food go to www.planetgreen.discovery.com/home-garden/ways-avoid-waste-food.html.)

If I was The Creator looking down on America, I would be counting the half cans of pop that are poured down the drain, the uneaten food sent back to kitchens, the leftovers that are carelessly tossed in the kitchen waste basket, and I would shake my head and say, "No, no, no.  This won't do.  How can I make you people appreciate your abundance.....maybe you should know what it feels like to have to beg for food.  Should I send a drought or a flood?"