Holes In The Mulch Beds

I just weeded my mulch beds the other morning.
The weeds are not terrible since I pull whatever I see each day when I water my plants.
The weeds that are most annoying are the small weeds that pop up out of nowhere.
Their tiny green leaves poke through the mulch.

I try to keep my garden and mulch beds organic.
I do not like to spray weed killer if I can help it.
Fresh air and exercise is my morning routine.
Pulling a few weeds gives me a sense of satisfaction.

The satisfaction is short lived since the next morning, I see little green leaves again.
They are never in the same place.
Weeds are frustrating.
Weeds are part of this fallen world.

As I was pulling a tiny weed, I noticed a larger one.
I gave it a tug and it resisted a bit.
I gave it a harder tug and the ground released its grip.
Left unattended, this would have grown into a tree.

I did not come to that conclusion immediately.
I came to that conclusion because of the holes.
I noticed many holes throughout my mulch beds.
Some of the mulch was on the walkway; it looked as if something was digging there.

Holes were near the walkway.
Holes were near the house.
Holes were in conspicuous places.
Holes were in places that you could easily miss.

The step that leads to our second front door, has a gap between the step and the walkway.
As I watered the hanging plant that is outside that door, I saw movement.
I looked down and saw a tiny chipmunk scurry into that gap.
Could that chipmunk have made the holes?

I saw a few squirrels as well.
They were scampering on the mulch beds and on the grass and up the trees.
Could the squirrels have made the holes?
I covered up the holes with mulch that I moved with the sole of my sneaker.

It takes about a half hour to water all my plants and pull the little weeds.
In that time, I thought about the holes.
In that time, I thought about the long weed that would have grown into a tree.
It was then I saw the shells of walnuts scattered around the mulch beds.

I smiled at the sight.
Each shell was neatly sliced in half.
Upon first glance, the shell looked like a pig’s snout.
Shells were lying here and there; something had been feasting on them.

I know that squirrels store up nuts for the winter.
I have seen squirrels high up in a tree with a walnut between their paws.
I jut assumed that nuts were stored in a hollow of a tree.
Apparently, nuts were stored in my mulch beds.

How do the squirrels or the chipmunks remember where they stored the nuts they collected?
How do they know to come back to the same place?
Do they find the nuts by their sense of smell?
Do they actually remember the place they buried then in the ground?

In an autumn when food is abundant, squirrels have plenty of spare time to collect nuts one at a time in their mouth. They scrape a small hole in soft earth and bury their prize, patting the soil down on top to hide it from birds.

Squirrels use a combination of cues to find them again later. First, the caching is not random. A particular place will have been chosen – under a big oak, for example – and remembered. Also several squirrels may use the same patch, which increases the probability that they will find stored nuts simply by chance.

When a squirrel returns weeks later, it peers at the ground, looking for disturbed soil and sniffing to detect a nutty smell. This multi-sense inspection focuses digging on the spots most likely to yield a nut. Any that are missed develop into new trees, benefiting future generations. Squirrels can even sniff out stored nuts under a layer of snow. (http://www.discoverwildlife.com/british-wildlife/how-do-squirrels-find-their-nuts)

All of this pondering about squirrels and nuts made me think bout an Elisabeth Elliot quote.
Don’t dig up in doubt what you planted in faith.
It intrigued me that I could take lessons from the squirrels.
They never dug up the nuts they buried until they were ready too eat them.

How often do I plant a problem in faith?
How often do I mentally hand it over to the Lord and trust that He will handle it?
How many times do I get my little shovel and dig up that problem again?
How often do I tumble it around in my mind trying to figure it out on my own?

I planted that problem in faith.
I buried that situation, trusting that the Lord will take care of it.
I meant it when I covered it over to look at it no more.
I meant it until…

It’s the until that causes the problem.
We dig up in doubt what we truly planted in faith.
We make little holes in our life because we cannot leave that situation in the Lord’s hands.
I not only noticed those holes in my mulch beds, I understood them.

I need to leave the problems and situations in the Lords capable hands.
When I dig them up, I only make a mess, tossing debris all over what was clean minutes before.
The Lord knows what I buried and where I buried it.
I only make a mess; the Lord knows what to do with each thing we hand over to Him.

But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish in the sea inform you. Which of all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind. (Job 12:7-10)

Holes in my mulch beds and buried nuts taught me a life lesson.
I can safely store a problem or a situation in the Lord’s hands.
I can plant that situation in faith and not doubt.
The Lord handles it perfectly.