Finding Serenity in Preparation

Ever wondered how a small creature like a chipmunk can teach us about resilience and preparation? Join me, Sally Burlington, on the Create Harmony podcast as we uncover the wisdom of the chipmunk, inspired by Gail Boss's book, "All Creation Waits". In the midst of holiday chaos, let us draw inspiration from nature's quiet transition into dormancy. This episode invites you to immerse yourself in the chipmunk's world, where underground tunnels and cleverly stocked pantries become symbols of survival and adaptability. Allow these reflections to guide you towards a more serene and contemplative Advent season.

As the outside world bustles with festive preparations, let the stories of wildlife bring you a moment of tranquility. Feel the warmth of the honeybee's collective spirit and explore the meticulous nature of the chipmunk as it readies for winter. 

To learn more, go to mycreateharmony.com

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:05

You've just joined the Create Harmony podcast, welcome. We use our imagination as a way of listening to God and we tune our senses to the magical presence of the Holy Spirit. You can find your place right here, and while you're doing that, we hope that you might also find some peace. I'm your host, sally Burlington, and this is episode 101, and we're continuing our Advent content, even though on the calendar we're not quite Advent yet. We're jumping ahead a little bit, sort of like every store you go in in the Hallmark Channel. We're beginning our centering process a little early and as the noise of the outside world gets louder and more busy, we are looking to nature to center us. So for this Advent we're using a book called All Creation Waits by Gail Boss. So the concept here is, as we're getting cranked up with lots and lots of noise and hurrying around and parties and wrapping and shopping and all of those things are happening in our world, outside in nature, things are slowing down, things are getting more dormant. Nature is quieting her voice and waiting through the darkest time of our year and waiting through the darkest time of our year. So this book, all Creation Waits, is filled with stories of creatures in the wild and how they are waiting through this season. So last week we heard a story about the honeybee and all the little bees shivering together. So this week we're going to hear about the chipmunk. And, as I did last week, I want to urge you to sort of marinate in this story and let it inspire you, pay attention to what jumps out at you, what catches your attention here and how can it speak to you as you journey through your holiday season. So all right, here we go into our story about the chipmunk.

Speaker 1: 2:05

In the sheltered south corner of my doorway, where the sun has kissed away the snow, I hear a chirp-chirp, chirp-chirp, pointed as a metronome Ticking items off some list. A chipmunk sits up tall on the warming cement slab. Tall on the warming cement slab. I try, peanut offering in hand, to ease the latch open soundlessly, but the chipmunk jerks, spins and vanishes down his hole. The cement slab is sinking on the side fronting the door. Thanks to this burrower, his tunnel works clearly start at my door, but who can tell where they go from there? With four feet, half the size of paperclips, he's dug down maybe four or five times the length of his body and out as far as a two-story house is tall, though not that straight Up in the wide, bright world. This morning he's taking what's apt to be his last sunbath for a while.

Speaker 1: 3:15

Winter is about to settle in for its cold bulk for a three-month stay. Banishing the chipmunk to his basement, unlike his cousins. Banishing the chipmunk to his basement, unlike his cousins squirrels at home in the trees, he would freeze above ground. Even in the insulated earth he survives only by careful calculation, compulsively, all fall. He packed his cheap couches with nuts and seeds and sped to rooms he'd hollowed out all along the sides of his tunnel pantries holding altogether up to a bushel of winter provisions. He keeps inventory, working for variety. If one sort of seed spoils, he wants plenty of other sorts.

Speaker 1: 4:03

Such a well-stocked pantry, though, is a magnet for thieves in the beneath, and so, above ground, he stored more reserves, hiding them from hungry thieves. There too, he will keep up his gathering, storing, inventorying, above ground, below ground, relentless, never sure of enough, until, finally, the cold says stop or die. Then he'll slip down through his tunnel to a leaf-lined sleeping chamber and ball up His body cools. If a weasel should find him. So he will be dead before he knows what hit him. Awake, he can barely escape.

Speaker 1: 4:57

So he sleeps in snatches a few days, a couple of weeks, pulling himself up out of torpor to inspect the tunnel, the exits, the pantries, and to eat. If provisions seem low, he might pick a warm day and pop up briefly to raid a bird feeder or find one of his above-ground stashes, which means risking a hawk or a cat watching for dark stripes against snow. So he considers staying put and saving food by sleeping a longer stretch. But that gives the weasel better odds. Also, he has to consider how long this winter might last and how to save food for spring whenever that comes. So he'll be strong enough then to pursue a mate, a tiny master of risk assessment.

Speaker 1: 5:52

He calculates and recalculates all winter long. There's no formula, no group think to fall back on. Flexibility is all. Each chipmunk must, for and by himself, consider which of several choices will most likely bring him through the cold, dark days to the other side of winter. Strong. He must do this continually, with no guarantees. Today, heart beating fast, he makes today's choice. So that's our nature story for today, and hopefully you found something in it that caught your attention and spoke to you as we journey through our days, our calendar days towards the end of the year and hope you'll come back next week for another nature story. And until next time, peace.