Rector's Letter - August 2001

 The Squirrel population of the Rectory garden continues to thrive.  One by one, birdfeeders are first raided, then carried off and their mangled remains discovered chewed-up and empty in the wild area at the bottom of the garden.  Our attempts to attract the Nuthatch and Woodpecker are greatly appreciated by these little bushy-tailed vandals, who grow fat on our sunflower seeds and peanuts.

 Ever on the look out for fresh opportunities, they have tried something new by breaking into the Guinea Pig run and raiding the food bowls of our two slightly bemused and overweight Cavies.  These gentle giants just sit back and chew the cud as empty-headedly as ever, whilst their daily bread rapidly disappears down the throat of a greedy distant cousin.

 Last weekend, to our great consternation, we came out found a Squirrel trapped in the run.  It flew about furiously dashing itself into the netting, flinging itself from one fenced side to another in an aggressive panic.  The Guinea Pigs in the meantime just sat and watched and chewed.

 Why, I wondered, would such an inventive resourceful creature not do the obvious thing and simply get out the way it came in?  But perhaps when we get things wrong the obvious solutions are the hardest to see?

 I have concluded that the antics of humanity must look to the Creator very much like the activities of the Squirrel in our garden.  So much talent and resourcefulness applied to so much self-centred activity.  And when we discover ourselves caught within a trap of our own making, how unwilling we are to take the obvious route to freedom.

 Our hope can only be that the hands of the Creator are at least as willing to assist mankind out of its mess as ours were to give the Squirrel his freedom.  But like so many of us, I suspect our Squirrel will struggle to learn his lesson!

Jeff Cuttell,
Rector.

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