More Little Foxes




Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom. Song of Solomon 2:15

Yesterday while driving on a rural Minnesota road, a fox leapt out from a ditch and darted in front of my car. I wasn’t sure what kind of animal it was until a second one streaked after its mate, narrowly escaping my wheels. A near miss but a good chance to look at his red face and long tail. How fast they moved! Like streaks of red.

I had been worrying over a work-related problem and admit I was paying little attention to my driving. The foxes reminded me again how little problems so easily distract and divert my focus. Fast. Like the wiggle of worry that crept in about work. Like the moment of panic of a strange noise heard in the night. Little foxes that run through my brain at the speed of light.

You’d notice if you read my journals that I’m introspective at the beginning of every month. I like to evaluate what happened during the previous month, summarize and lament over its problems and make a conscious effort to celebrate its victories. One day while I was complaining to the Lord about bed bugs—yes bed bugs! —and how they caused such disruption in our happy routine, it was as if the Lord said to me, “Are you going to let the whole month be defined by one problem?”

It was true. We had enjoyed a visit with old friends. We had spent precious hours with family members. My poetry group gave a reading at the Minnesota State Fair. Many good things had happened during the course of the month and yet I remembered only too clearly our bout with bed bugs, the extermination process, the problem and hassle. It’s over now but the stench of pesticide still lingers. A little fox still hiding under our bed, ready to taunt and tease and fix my mind on negative things instead of positive.

Like a mom who concentrates on a single negative behavior without celebrating her child’s thousands of successful moments, I tend to remember what went wrong, what caused embarrassment or discontent, what made me angry, how I failed. Little foxes. Surely my life is greater than a single event.

Yours, too. Today let’s celebrate something positive. Let’s refocus our lens and see the bigger point of view, God’s point of view. Yes, many things are going wrong but more things are going right. We’re alive. The sun came up this morning. We have fresh air to breathe and food to eat. Don’t let the little foxes rob you. When they speed through your mind, let them keep running. Let them go.