I’m not certain, but I think if I looked up the definition of the word “zoo” our family name might be found right after the words wild and untamable. Include a quick inventory of our various pets and furry friends (dust bunnies not included), and I’m sure you would agree—the word “zoo” just sort of fits.
Today my daughter, or should I say—miniature zoo keeper—fished a water frog from our small pond in hopes of “teaching it lots of tricks.” I could see her frustration mounting as she commanded the frog to jump over a little stick while the obstinate thing just sat. The nerve of that toad!
“I don’t know why he can’t get this,” she murmured while biting her tongue and prodding its little green bottom with a frog sized stick.
“Well, some things just aren’t tamable honey,” I said pulling a clump of nestled grass from my garden.
“Like what things?”
“Um… I guess some things are wild like aunts, fish, and frogs.”
But the more I discouraged, the more determined she became, and the higher she held the wooden stick. Was she teaching the thing to do the limbo?
At that point she offered the amphibian a tasty treat, a night crawler, if only he would listen. But the frog wouldn’t jump—the worm wouldn’t wiggle, so she tossed the toad in a bucket in efforts to teach it how to swim. (Even though he seemed to be doing a pretty good job of that before she nabbed him.) Alas, she felt a fragment of success with that move.
As I sat and turned the dirt, I couldn’t help but remember a time when my heart was a tad untamable. When I wanted nothing more than to do of my own will, running wild on a course I thought of as free.
Needless to say, there is a chasm of loneliness that comes along with that type of freedom and separation from God. And truth be told, I wasn’t free at all. I was a slave to every whim of my heart. And let me tell you, this gal can have a lot of whims.
It wasn’t until my mom died, that I asked Christ to take my life—wild as it may be—to do with it as He wills. Now I have the peace of knowing that when things get a little too “wild” around the Duewel Zoo, I can always find direction through prayer and God’s word.
And although I’m like the toad and can’t quite conquer the limbo (in fact, my body has NEVER been that stretchy), I can rest in knowing God can tame all things. Even a wild and wondering heart like mine.
To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:31&32. (NIV)
Copyright © 2007 - Elizabeth Duewel. All rights reserved.
