Almost two weeks ago I wrote about my enjoyment of the blog Daily Coyote by Shreve Stockton. Shreve’s blog is a photo and essay chronology of “life with the coyote and beyond”. The coyote is Charlie, who was “dumped on her doorstep” when he was 10 days old.
I was walking up my driveway early one morning while Karl was doing his perimeter walk - our daily habit. Cup of coffee in hand, I was watching his neon blue lighted collar bob through the woods and my mind just wandering - looking forward to whatever Shreve would choose to share on her blog, thinking about my own, questions floating through my head… I got to wondering, “How did Charlie come to be left on her doorstep? - as in why her, by whom? Was it intentional to leave the pup with her or was her cabin just convenient to whoever found the pup or ??? These questions were just drifting lightly in my head along with wondering what she would disclose in her forthcoming book.
I kept coming back to “why on her doorstep”? And that led me to “Why do things get left on any of our doorsteps?” - as in - metaphorically, “Why do certain things happen?”. But that is not really the intriquing question - nor the intriguing answer… in my mind. The really interesting thing, the life-shaping “answer” is the answer to: “What do we do with what is left on our doorstep?”
What do we do with the crossroads-opportunity-decision required events that occur in our lives? For me, it is the “What do we do with it?” that makes the difference between existing and living and further, potentially shapes our lives in ways we cannot imagine at the time of the decision.
In a post titled “This needs to be said”, Shreve writes:
Charlie has changed my life in incredible ways; he has brought me joy and wonder and wisdom and has provided me with lessons I probably would not have learned any other way. However, it is not all peaches and roses.
….
Charlie was - and is - a divine gift to me and he is a gift to the world. Would I make the same decision if I had it to do over again? Absolutely. Will I ever raise another coyote? No way.
Obviously, a lot more to that post and there are other posts that provide a bit more insight, but what I saw in the writing (and I have no way of knowing if I’m accurate - please read this as my perception) was that at the time of needing to make a decision there was a certain amount of understanding of the potential difficulty, heartbreak and challenge of taking care of a wild animal, while at the same time an unwillingness to let the creature die. Further it seems that she was open to the idea that despite incredible difficulty, the experience “could” be of unknown blessing and beauty. And maybe all of those thoughts did not consciously pass through Shreve’s mind, but I don’t think you get to a point of “he has brought me joy and wonder and wisdom” without being open to that when accepting the responsibility of the decision.
The more life experience I have (read the older I get!), the more easily I recognize the potential joy, wonder and wisdom there may be to gain in what I do with what gets left on my doorstep. Whether it is the attitude, perspective, or actual decision that needs to be made - it is in making the choice of how to see, perceive or what to do that is, in reality, the only “control” I may have. Being open to the ensuing direction that my life takes - listening, watching and learning from the consequences - that, to me, is living.
The topic of this post has been rolling around in my head for a week or so and I have had a draft with the title and enough of a blip about the topic sitting in a file, waiting to be written. Yesterday, something landed on my doorstep that was initially disappointing, discouraging and a bit challenging. The thing has happened - “why” is of no real consequence. The adventure, the potential wisdom, joy and opportunity - those lie on the path of what I choose to do with what landed on my doorstep.
And this morning, I opened a devotional that I reread from time to time: “Mighty is Your Hand” - 40 day’s writings by Andrew Murray, a South African missionary/minister in the mid 1800’s. My reading for this day is titled “God Goes with Us”… just in case I had any doubt, that surely set the tone for my attitude and perspective.
Why on my doorstep? - I don’t know. What will I do with it? What wisdom, joy and wonder might come down the path I choose to take?
***And for additional inspiration, Shreve noted on Daily Coyote that her nearly 90 year old grandmother was blogging and provided the link: Svensto. It is magical story telling - and like granddaughter - making the choice about what to do with what landed on her doorstep.
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