Squirrel !!
Travel back in time to medieval days and our squirrels in England were red, not grey. Red Squirrels - are sweet little beasts, with white furry tufts in their ears giving them a slightly puzzled look. And they have good reason to be concerned (if indeed squirrels can exercise concern?), since very few of them have survived to this day. When Beatrix Potter wrote her children’s story about Squirrel Nutkin in 1903, the hero was a red squirrel.
But there was a menace lurking in the background, as wealthy British travellers crossing the Atlantic were charmed to discover American squirrels. Much larger than our native red squirrel and grey. Definitely a must-have item for their country estates!
In 1890 the Duke of Bedford imported ten of them, releasing some at Woburn Abbey and others in London’s Regents Park, and this proved to be a disaster. Grey squirrels can produce eight offspring (‘kittens’) every year. And although half of these do not survive infancy, the ones that do, begin breeding at thirteen months old. With a life span of three to ten years their numbers grew terrifyingly fast.
Maybe, just maybe, those who introduced the grey squirrel into this country, now considered to something of a pest, had no understanding of what their actions at that time would result in. The behaviours of the grey squirrel, including bark stripping and passing of viruses to red squirrels, have had negative effects on trees, timber plantations, and the decline in the number of our native ‘Squirrel Nutkins.’
Of course, like all of God’s creation they have an allotted life span: squirrels three to ten years, us around 70 years.
As God’s greatest creation – He created us in His own image – we are given 70 years as an average life span. Some live fewer years and some for longer.
But regardless of when and how we finally meet death we can be sure that it will come to us all. The most important thing is that understand what comes beyond death.
The scriptures make it clear where in the Psalms it says:
The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away. Who considers the power of your anger, and your wrath according to the fear of you? So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. (Psalm 90:10-12)
Notice that the Psalm not only gives us the clue as to how long our lifespan might be, but it also encourages us to get wisdom. To understand that we can follow our life here with eternal life in the presence of our Creator God in heaven, by the repentance of our sin and the forgiveness of our Saviour Jesus Christ.
Like ageing, like death – sin affects us all – no exceptions!
And God’s love – His compassion – reaches out to us all – no exceptions!