Our birds so much enjoyed a bath I made for them out of a shallow pottery bowl, I decided I would make them another and I set it in a part of the garden where we also throw their seed.
Last Saturday, during the heat of the day I found a little shrew in the garden. I thought I'd seen a little brown furry thing the previous week, hanging around my peas and sure enough, there it was again—a tiny creature with a long snout. It seemed a bit dull and I hoped it wasn't sick, but I came inside and thought no more about it.
The day after, looking through the window, I saw this little creature again—now full of life I might add—doing its best to leap into the bird's large bowl of water. "It'll regret it," I said to my husband. "If it gets in there it won't get out because of the slippery sides."
True enough the words were hardly out of my mouth before we saw its persistence had paid off. It had somehow got into the water bowl and now its little legs were going at it as though it was on a wheel as it tried to get out.
"It'll drown," I said.
"No it won't," my husband said, and the Kind-heart went outside to help the poor little critter get out. He also laid down the top of a plastic container full of water for it. Now, that's kindness to animals.
That event made me realize that all creatures on this planet have their struggles in one way or another and that struggling is inherent with being here on the Earth. So it follows that if we happen to be passing through a quiet or lovely time in our lives, we should be truly grateful and enjoy every moment. As grateful, in fact, as that little shrew probably was when my husband, who must have looked like a skyscraper approaching, gently lifted it out of the water.
