The Wonder of It All
On a recent visit to Melbourne Zoo, I was reminded of the miracle of creation.
I was there on official business, in charge of 7 over-excited 5 – 7 year old boys. Having lived on this earth for in excess of 30 years, I have grown to view animals with some amount of apathy, but the expression of wonder on a child’s face as they view their first real-life lemur is, well, a wondrous thing!
And while the miracle of creation was the first thing that came to mind when thinking back on this trip, I realised that the children I visited the zoo with actually had more to teach me than any of the animals.
Please note: names have been changed to protect the children’s privacy.
Now, while I say I was ‘in charge’ of these boys, I guess ‘I was dragged around by’ may be a more apt description! First stop after the education centre was the reptile house. Boy number one, like most 7 year olds, was fascinated by ‘dangerous’ creatures. ‘Look at the teeth on that crocodile!’ and ‘this frog has enough poison to kill an adult male!’ were the catch cries of our visit there.
Later on, we visited the lemurs, boy number 2 ran straight through the enclosure without even seeing one lemur. It was not until the rest of our group caught up with him at the exit and politely suggested that he have another walk through that he saw these strange and charming creatures which he later declared were his favourite animals of the visit.
The pygmy hippopotamus and mandrils were the standout for boys 3 and 4 (and boy number 1, when he found out how dangerous they could be).
Everyone in the group was relieved when we reached the butterfly house. Not because we all loved butterflies, but because boy number 5 did love butterflies and asked every five minutes when we would get to see them. He was sufficiently impressed by their beauty but was so excited by them that he would not stand stand still long enough for one to land on him (Which the rest of the group had to hear about for the remainder of the day).
Boy number 6 almost had us evicted from the zoo because he seemed to incite rage amongst the baboons – never before have I seen animals bang on the glass at the humans on the other side.
Boy number 7 is business-savvy; he still thinks the zoo is missing a fantastic marketing opportunity by not offering elephant rides but does concede that it is probably better to care for this endangered creature rather than profit from it.
As I mentioned at the outset, these boys had some lessons for me.
Boys number 1, 3 and 4 reminded me that everything in this world is God’s and should therefore be feared and respected (Psalms 89:11).
Boys number 2 and 5 reminded me that sometimes we need to slow down and be still to enjoy His creation (1 Kings 19:11-12).
Boy number 7 reminded me of our responsibility for God’s creatures (Genesis 1:26).
And what did boy number 6 teach me? Unless you’re King Solomon, keep your distance from baboons (2 Chronicles 9:21).
