Father Sky sketched a wondrous winter blue sky today and filled it full of white fluffy mackerel scale clouds. I sat in the sunshine in my purple yard chair this afternoon after I filled all the bird feeders. My birds have enjoyed this beautiful day with its warm sunshine and so have I. Mother Nature painted a glorious sunset in shades of pink and watermelon. Last peek out the windows at sunset I watched her blaze an orange wildfire across the horizon. Mother Nature is a talented artist with her watercolors.

“There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge,” Bertrand Russell. I love that quote and I love collecting weird and interesting facts that I guess you’d call useless knowledge. Course now when I need a useless fact I can only think of two — a chicken once lived 18 months without its head and ketchup was first sold as medicine. I know not to ever look up useless facts on the internet, I’d never get a blog written.

Vet brother and I took mama for a heart procedure once. I was nervous while we sat in the waiting room and I kept talking about useless facts. Finally vet brother said, “You’ve got to hush. These useless facts are driving me crazy. Where did you learn them?” I don’t remember what I replied, probably, “The Reader’s Digest.”

Chief collected sets of encyclopedias and read them like most read novels. He was always overflowing with useless knowledge. I told him once it was a shame he knew all those facts but could do nothing with them. Rosie called him The Encyclopedia of the South. Don’t think I ever asked him some obscure question that he couldn’t answer. I miss him!

Fatty the squirrel got on my new squirrel proof bird feeder this morning trying every trick he knew but he never got any seeds. He finally gave up and jumped down. Soon as he hit the ground, the neighborhood watch dog Bootsie ran Fatty across the street and up a power pole. Bootsie took a sun bath at the bottom of the pole so Fatty was trapped up there forever. That fat little squirrel just sat up there surveying his territory, holding his tail in a perfect question mark. He never fails to amuse me with his bright eyed shenanigans. Australia is the only continent that isn’t home to squirrels. Guess that’s a useless fact.

Biblical scripture never mentions squirrels by name but spiritually we see squirrels as symbols of resourcefulness, adaptability, and playfulness. Squirrels are seriously concerned with their food supply and are delightful gatherers. Like the squirrels, we should store up our acorns of faith in our hearts so we can look inward in times of trouble and rely on God’s grace to sustain us. “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee,” Psalm 119:11.

The world is a glorious habitat but life is a struggle and we need our faith in God to help us along the way, especially when we have difficult times. Don’t give up, keep praying, keep listening to God’s words. Our faith can keep our eyes on our destination. A squirrel is just a squirrel. He doesn’t try to change his world or change himself. He goes about his daily chores with all the energy of just being a squirrel.

We should be just a “squirrel” as we live our Christian lives, gathering our acorns of God’s love, storing them in our hearts. Success and happiness come from being ourselves and living our lives based on our values. A life full of joy allows you to live a life of purpose. Being true to yourself and your Christian beliefs will be your guide to living a fulfilling life. Never stop gathering your acorns of faith.

“Find joy in the little things, like a squirrel finds joy in acorns.” — Unknown