Hungry Deer Have No Fear

I share this ocean path I walk nearly weekly with many deer.

It seems that they know and trust me,

and many other frequent visitors.

They usually tentatively look at us.

Sometimes they go scampering into the brush.

Other times they move hardly at all.

It seems as if I could reach out and pet them, but I don’t.

Today I noticed several deer truly meandering in front of me.

They would go side to side on the path,

chewing on one tree and shifting to the other side to a bush.

Back and forth, side to side they would go.

It didn’t matter how close I got at all.

They just did what they needed to do.

Their urgency was obvious.

I sensed their anxiety.

The berries were gone and they were left with brittle branches.

They were determined to not starve, at least not today.

So they had no fear of me walking near them at all.

They couldn’t afford to stop eating, lest they would starve.

They knew that unless they single-mindedly did what they needed to do,

they would hasten their death.

I observed one deer in particular.

Its focus was unrelenting.

It couldn’t take a moment to worry about me.

It had to suspend any fear of me and not worry at all.

It was just doing whatever it needed to do to survive.

Just another of God’s creatures placing fear aside in the interest of survival.

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