Sea Lions

Mary’s Monday Musings to Quilt Encouragement

Sea Lions

The red buoy made a cozy place for six or seven large sea lions to sun themselves. A couple of them raised their heads when our boat load of sight seers lingered nearby. Finding us uninteresting, they lolled back to sleep. Their snoozing was interrupted when another sea lion swam up and tried to climb on. Big flippers and massive heads refused to make room for the interloper. Over and over the mammal tried to join the sunning party only to be pushed away. Undaunted the large animal tried again and again. Finally, he shoved himself up on the red metal and pushed another startled, sleepy sea lion into the bay where he bellowed objections. This displaced animal attempted to climb back onto his comfy ledge numerous times, only to be refused space amid noisy protests. As we watched the interaction of these animals, the displaced sea lion finally managed to shove and squeeze himself up and once again made a place for himself on the buoy where the slumbering continued.

These shenanigans reminded us of children on a playground Jungle Jim, freezing one another out and insisting on a place. When it is adults who are scoping out a position, these types of challenges usually happen on a more subtle level. Anyone can find themselves rudely shoved aside from some kind of opportunity without warning. With our human brains, we can discover better responses than those Sea Lions who were only concerned with their own comfort. Whatever predicament we face, we can always begin by talking to God about our situation. We can ask Him to help us adjust to our situation and show us a way to battle whatever slight we’ve experienced without harming ourselves and, at the same time, showing consideration of others. When we listen to God we can expect Him to lead us to solutions and show us if there are certain people He would have us consult. Before we bellow and shove our way into anything, we do well to go to God for guidance.