The Parable of the Chipmunk Stash

I have a mature chestnut tree in my back yard and spent some time Saturday morning collecting the pristine nuts in a basket.  They’re not very edible, but they’re very decorative.  Then I moved on to the flower bed.

Since spring, the chipmunk has been digging in the flower bed right outside the back door.  I have tried all year to discourage it.  I’ve filled in the hole alongside the house.  I’ve sprinkled and sprayed repellants.  I put three bricks and a landscaping border stone over the holes.  All to no avail.

The phone company came out to bury a cable and disturbed the little flower bed.  With half the flowers gone, I cleaned up the bed and smoothed out the dirt – most of it having been rearranged by the chipmunk.  I dusted off the bricks and moved them so I could replace them after I filled in the hole.  There, in the chipmunk’s hole, under the bricks and against the foundation, was a stash of chestnuts, more pristine than the ones I had just gathered!

I admit, my first thought was to clear out the stash and add them to my basket, but it didn’t have the heart to ruin all the chipmunk’s hard work.  The results of the chipmunk’s labor that I had previously seen as a nuisance was actually a beautiful treasure chest.

Life is full of circumstances and people we consider nuisances, but if we dig deeper, God has a treasure chest to share with us.  There are so many things He longs to teach us, so many blessings He wants to give us, but we have to look beyond the nuisance and we have to dig for them.