Only One Deer Stopped

One of my favorite things to do each weekday is to go the North Campus Church and say my morning prayers. I usually arrive around 6:00am. It is very quiet and peaceful at that time with little traffic noise from the street.

At least twice a week, as I sit in the front pew, I will catch a small herd of deer from the corner of my eye outside the east windows. They leave the forest and slowly walk by the grounds east of the church building before traveling south and grazing on whatever they want to eat. Sometimes it’s the grass they feed on, sometimes it’s small branches on the trees, often it’s remnants of corn found on the ground from last year’s produce in the south fields.

Last Wednesday, I stopped my prayers while noticing one deer leave the forest and then four more slowly also exited the trees and walked onto the grass. I found it striking that no deer came onto the grass from the same path. It was random from which part of the forest they exited.

Four of the deer quickly stopped upon exiting and then slowly wandered onto the cornfield. One deer, though, slowly walked to a church window and placed her nose right against the window looking in. I sat ever so still so as not to scare her. I could have sworn she smiled while looking in.

Isn’t this image like us as we are on are journey to meet God at the end of our lives. No one can really travel the exact same path. All of us face unhelpful distractions as we travel, whether it be the ugliness of man’s inhumanity to other men, struggles with relationships, health issues, finances, or worry about loved ones. We then turn to God and are helped and nourished by His love and the special graces He gives us.

Then, sometimes we remember to stop, look through the window of our lives, and find comfort in knowing we are not alone. God leads; we follow. When we do this, we smile. 

By: Deacon Tom Gryzbek