One of the gifts I received for Christmas this year was a prayer/gratitude tree.  It’s a metal tree about 2 feet tall with bare branches.  It came with a box containing little, square pieces of paper and string for attaching them to the branches.  My children know I often put my prayer requests and replies from God on the refrigerator door, so one of my daughters-in-law thought this would be ‘right up my alley’.

Well, I set it up but hadn’t put anything on it until about 2 weeks ago.  My Sunday School class laughed about my request when I told them about it.  And it may seem trivial to you, but this is what I wrote: ” Please, God, return my squirrels.  There are plenty of walnuts to share. Your Baby, Bessie”

Here’s the story behind that request.  We’ve always had plenty of squirrels, both little red ones and grays.  But since coyotes and bobcats have begun to populate the area, our little fuzzy-tailed friends have disappeared from around our house.  The walnuts we left, just in case any returned, are still lying like little black lumps in the snow.

Well, as I sat by the kitchen window, checking my email this morning.  I caught a flicker out of the corner of my eye.  I thought it was a bird and continued what I was doing. Then I saw something scurry across the ground behind the decorated pine on the side of the hill. It’s unusual for a bird to do that, particularly in the winter, so I scanned the sidehill, waiting for movement.  And to my amazement, a squirrel ran up a tree trunk, flicking its little, prayer-answering tail.

So, you know what I’ll be doing when I get off this computer.  Yep. Writing out my prayers and hanging them for all to see.  I have already turned the squirrel prayer request over and written: “1/24/12  Prayer answered.  Thank you LORD!”