"If you have men who will exclude any of God's creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who will deal likewise with their fellow men."

St. Francis of Assisi

My St. Francis of Assisi Day was strangly appropriate in every way.  I was beginning to think, Tuesday night, that there would be little, if any celebrating at all.  I still had not managed to get my hands on birdseed, and since we have no pets of our own right now, I was resigning myself to a scary trip to the lake to feed the swarms of bold fowl that, upon sight of bread, terrorize young mothers such as myself.  But, my good husband, on a trip to the store to spoil me with some chocolate icecream, also picked up some parakeet feed.  Yes, that is what you get when you buy birdfood at a grocery store, but I'm grateful.

So yesterday morning I sat down with the kids to make various birdfeeders.  They coated icecream cones (I think I'm beginning to sound like an icecream addict here.  I am.) with peanut butter and rolled them in birdseed and we hung them from the bushes out back along with a milk carton birdfeeder that we hung from a tree.

I thought this was the end of "being kind to wild creatures," but was quickly struck with the scary truth that my home had been invaded by a few little animals!  My kids!  They spent most of the afternoon acting like monkey-lion-kangaroo-elephants.  They ran around, jumped and climbed on me, hung from my arms and hips, yelled, stomped, ran and all other assortment of wild-animal behavior.  I'll admit it, I lost it at one point.  My back ached from holding my "little monkey" Bud-Jack along with the weight of his chimp brother Gordon pulling on his little arms and legs and making, literally, monkey noises.  So, I yelled.  Fortunately, Jason was home by that time, so I was granted a few short minutes to retreat to the master bedroom with the "little monkey" for a some quiet and recuperation.

When I came out, we finished off our St. Francis of Assisi day with a very appropriate trip to. . . Outdoor World (aka Cabella's) where Gordon looked in awe at stuffed and mounted animals and Teeny exclaimed repeatedly, "There's a deer in here!  There's a bear in here!"

Sort of like I had been exclaiming just a few short hours before, "There's a monkey in here!  No, wait, there's three of them!"

Lord, help me to remember to have compassion on these little critters You have blessed me with.  Help me to remember that "little monkeys" have feelings too, very sensitive feelings, feelings that should always be considered before I speak (or shout).

**Edited to add:  Maybe Cabella's wasn't so appropriate.  I somehow doubt that St. Francis would have frequented a hunting/fishing store to view mounted carcasses.  Hmmm.