Wednesday, June 10, 2009

These Little Pigs Will Go To Market




On the weekend we visited good friends near Sharbot Lake, Ontario. Their farm is a lovely refuge, a combination of fields and forest and water. It is a working farm, so we are always interested to find out what and who is new in the barn.

This time around there were lambs, including a couple that need to be bottle-fed. The four young pigs were terrified of unfamiliar humans but eventually posed for a photo. The calf was born only hours before we arrived. We walked back in the pasture and found the mom, named Emma, who also gave birth to a calf from two years ago named Ugly Gus. I'm reluctant to mention that a portion of Gus is now in our freezer. Emma was out in the sun with the other cows, but had tucked the yet unnamed calf in the long grass beneath a tree. She didn't move until her mother anxiously checked out what we were doing to her baby. Bye the way, this little girl will have a name beginning with "I," so feel free to make suggestions.

We also had a reminder of new life in the wild world. We went out on the river in our kayaks and Ruth noticed a deer standing by the shore. I moved closer, and closer, and closer still, wondering why the deer didn't dart away. Then I saw why. A wobbly-legged fawn was beside her, barely able to stand.

These newborn creatures create in me a sense of delight and wonder, which directs me toward the Creator. I'm sure no seven-day literalist and I made my peace with evolution years ago. I am also aware that our friends are not raising animals as pets and that the fawn may one day be taken down by a hunter's bullet. But an hours-old human baby, or calf, or fawn speak to me of the intricacy of life that finds its way back to God.

2 comments:

Nancy said...

It's the miracle of life. I remember in grade 13 biology looking at a sperm under a microscope for the very first time. That's when the miracle hit me, how can something so beautiful come from something so tiny no matter if human or animal? God does wonderful things.
P.S. Fawns do not have a scent and so often the mother leaves them hidden in the woods when danger is near.

David Mundy said...

Nancy, you mentioned on another occasion the egg-hatching project in the school where you work. It's important for people of all ages to actually observe these everyday miracles.