Something woke me up at 4 am. I wasn’t sure what it was so I tried to go back to sleep. I heard it again, louder this time. David and our Lab, Addy were both sound asleep beside me, oblivious to any noise as usual.
Another bang and I got up and turned on the deck lights. I went to the kitchen window. I noticed the branches of the large spruce tree next to our deck moving a bit in the wind but nothing that would make any real noise. Then I noticed my two bird feeders. The one on the post about two feet away from the tree was hanging off to the side, flapping in the wind. The one that was tied to a tree branch was totally gone. All that remained was the wooden top swaying in the wind.
In the stupor of sleep I began to think; what would destroy my feeders in the wee hours of a dark October morning? I thought I’d better go and check to see if someone had left the deck gate open. As Addy heard me unlock the kitchen door she was up and on my heels waiting for me to let her out. I saw that the gate was closed and I was just stepping out onto the deck to further investigate when Addy jumped out ahead of me.
That’s when I looked over to where the mangled bird feeders were. Less than 15 feet away from me, sitting on the deck and looking at me over his shoulder with a rather large goofy grin on his face was a huge black bear. I yelled at Addy to get in the house, which she did. My first thought was, I have to get the gate open so the bear can get off the deck. Then I thought I’d better wake up David first. I began heading towards our bedroom and yelling at him to wake up because there was a rather large bear on the deck. David isn’t too bright when he first wakes up so he just wasn’t getting it. He was looking at me like I’d flipped my lid. He was muttering something about how a bear couldn’t possibly get up on a deck 10 feet above the ground; and who left the deck gate open anyway?
I informed David that the bear must have climbed the tree to get on the deck. David decided that he would go out on the deck and open the gate while I watched the bear. When he got back in the house I opened up the kitchen window, clapped my hands and shouted at the bear with Addy barking behind me. With the dog barking and me yelling, the bear reluctantly reached up and grabbed the tree, swung its ample butt over the deck railing and shinnied down the same way he came up.
The tale that appears above is what we have come to call, “Linda’s patio bear story.” And now, I get to make the point. The point is that this is not the end of the story. Once that old bear had sampled our bird feeders, even though all the bird feeders were either destroyed and/or removed that very same night, the bear came back. He came back almost every night from the end of October until the end of November. He came back through a chorus of barking dogs. He came back through two rather significant snowstorms leaving his fresh paw prints through our yard right to the foot of our deck in the eight inches of fresh snow that fell each time. We kept waiting for him to hibernate for the winter but he kept coming back to check out the bird feeders. I am sure if he ever does hibernate, the first thing he will do when he gets up and scratches his belly in springtime is wander over and check out our bird feeders. Such is the nature of habituation in bears.
I find this bear habituation rather interesting. When bears get into a habit, especially if it involves food, good luck in changing the habit. Even if something that is apparently more enticing comes along, more choice pickings so to speak, even then, bears will continue to come by and check out their old standby sites. And it causes me to wonder how it would be for me as a Christian if as to the means of grace I were more like a patio bear as to food.
John Calvin viewed the means of grace primarily as word and sacrament. For me, when it comes to defining what I mean by means of grace, I have to confess I am more influenced by the other John (gasp!). John Wesley spoke of the means of grace as the ways through which God works in deepening, strengthening and encouraging faith. The person of faith was expected to develop habits in practicing the means of grace so as to open up one’s heart and life to God’s working. Wesley spoke of individual practices of piety such as prayer, fasting, searching scripture and holy living. He spoke of doing works of mercy such as visiting the sick, visiting the imprisoned, caring for the needy, seeking justice and opposing oppression. He spoke of communal practices such as Holy Communion, baptism, worship, Christian conferencing and fellowship or community. Wesley saw all of these as means of grace and encouraged the Christian to become habituated in practicing all of them in a balanced way. He was confidant that it was through regularly and habitually practicing these means of grace, spiritual disciplines really, that the process of sanctification powerfully took place and the Christian was moved towards perfection through the work of the Holy Spirit.
In my hit – and – miss world, in my on again – off again spiritual practice, this really speaks to me. Concepts like habits, discipline and duty are not only getting short shrift in my faith practice but they seem like they are often spoken of and thought of pejoratively in my world. What seems to get admired and promoted instead is the ability to multi – task, to buzz around and do as many things at the same time as possible so that at the end of the day the wolves are kept at bay. I have come to suspect that multi tasking is just another phrase for “can’t focus.” Developing habits and committing to them has everything to do with focus. And you know what? In my gut I know that this is what my walk with Jesus really needs, and it’s what I really crave, too. I’ll say it again. I wonder how it would be for me as a Christian if as to the means of grace I were more like a patio bear as to food. Habituated.
