God is the Protector and helps all at the right time and right place
By Nigar
I love animals, birds and Nature in general. I like to be with them and around them. I had been staying in a lush green forested area for a few days. I was quite aware that snakes, scorpions and many other crawlies also shared the greenery. I also knew that you never know in which bush or patch of thick grass they might be relaxing!
It had rained a bit a day before, and the next day was warm and sunny. I stepped out of the room in the afternoon to walk towards the dining hall. I walked very carefully, looking down. Just then, I spotted something grayish-green on the ground. At first glance I thought it was a long stick. I stopped to look at it. To my horror, it wriggled. And that’s when I realized it was a snake. I ran screaming towards my friend, who was just a little ahead of me.
While I had seen snakes in zoos, this very close encounter with one in the wild left me a wee bit scared. Yes, I did love animals, but snakes were really not on my wish-list of God’s creatures that I wanted to meet.
I admit that my scare made me feel a bit foolish. I thought, “So
many people live in forests. Don’t they come across snakes too?” I felt stupid that I was so worried about my life, or the fear of dying after a snake bite. But I also realized that God had saved me from actually stepping on the snake.
Facing Sandra, as I named the snake, taught me some things. One is the need to be mindful at all times. One should be in the present moment wherever one is, be it in a forest or stuck in a traffic jam on a busy road. It saves one from things like stepping on a snake. A second lesson is that God is the Protector and helps all at the right time and right place. A third thing I learnt is that we need to accept the reality of one’s feeling at the moment for instance, the fear I felt after spotting the snake but not to continue to live in it.
I certainly don’t expect an idyllic scene in a forested area where only docile puppies and kitten hop onto to my lap or wink at me as they pass by, as they do in fairy tales. I need to accept that many more Sandras and his friends could be basking in the grass and anytime they could just pop out to ask “How do you do”! I am not eagerly waiting to bump into either Sandra or his cousins again in the greenery. But if I do, I know God is there and will make me mindful to simply walk out of their way!
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