Which way?

A shiny tractor and plough parked across the path, blocking one of our normal morning routes. The cows had been moved early this morning, and cows, evidently, have no sense of direction. They follow their noses and their noses don’t always lead them in the right path.

We continued on and, as with previous mornings recently, encountered a rabbit who hunkered down, frozen to the spot. A few times recently, Dusty and a bunny have been nose to nose, though usually the rabbit eventually has hopped away in a desultory sort of fashion. Not at all normal.

I’ve looked for the signs of mixmatosis, a terrible disease that we’ve seen decimate the rabbit population here before, which causes blinding and eventually starvation. Didn’t see anything myself, but this morning’s encounter was with a rabbit who was most likely blind. Poor thing. I found myself praying for it!

I wonder how often I am stubbornly trying to go down the wrong way, like the cows, and need a physical barrier to alter my direction. I pray that God will have mercy on me and put that barrier in place today, if I am so inclined.

I also wonder how often I am just plain blind to what’s going on around me. I get frozen to the spot because I can’t see where the dangers are, and so keeping still seems the best option.

Often it is not. If I weren’t there to command Dusty away, she’d have had rabbit for breakfast.

God help me to find the right path this morning, I pray.