My heart was saddened at the sight of a beautiful little squirrel run over on the road. All he ever wanted was to find something to eat. Put away a few acorns for the winter. Build a nest of branches. Avoid predators. Run and play with the other squirrels.

Now his life has ended, and all that he had acquired for winter, all the fun he had circling trees, and all the struggle to stay fed and stay away from being eaten, was over.

He had not laid up treasures in heaven. He had not known there was a higher being than himself that created squirrels to begin with. He did not have eternity in his heart. Death was the end for him.

Some people choose to think that is the fate of humans too. It is an irrational choice, because we are gifted with reason and the ability to see something beyond ourselves. We are given creativity and the ability to make something that has not previously existed. We are able to conceive of a time when mankind would not face death. We are able to look back at what came before us, as well as have the knowledge that life will go on after us.

The little squirrel had none of these abilities. Other than a short span of time when other squirrels will feel the loss, they soon go on about their squirrel business and forget. They do not spend time pondering whether he will live again or even about their next meal and shelter. They just follow the instinct built into them. It is their programming, and like this laptop I am using, they serve the purpose they were created for.

We have had animated shows for many years now that have given human attributes to animals, so that we almost think they do have our intellect and creative abilities, but it is only make believe. Bambi would soon have no memory of his mother. Animals of the forest do not come to the aid of a banished princess. Mice are a nuisance and not cute little dressed up characters carrying on a life of meaning. The coyote does not devise elaborate methods to capture the roadrunner, and the roadrunner does not continually outwit the coyote. No animal has ever been capable of composing a written language or reading. They know no past and do not anticipate a future.

These are words from a John Denver tune:

"and man with all his intellect, his reason and his choice
Who's to say the nightingale has any less a voice?
The silver dolphins twist and dance and sing to one another.
The cosmic ocean knows no bounds
for all that live are brothers.
The whippoorwill, the grizzly bear, the elephant, the whale
All children of the universe are weavers of this tale."

Why is it so hard for mankind to see and to admit that we are not the same as all the rest of creation?

Is it because acknowledgement of a Creator carries with it the knowledge that He has the right to say what the rules are for His creation? They might have to admit that an unborn child is in the image of the creator and that it is unconscionable to end that life. They would have to admit that it is wrong to lust and drink to excess, and take what does not belong to them, or harbor hatred in their heart toward someone else. God did not confine us to very limited programming as the animals are, but instead gave us a mind with free will and the ability to choose.

The heart of man for the most part, has chosen to be hard and in rebellion against his Creator. He wants to think he is the author and finisher of his life and being, even if he chooses to believe this life is all that there is. The irony of it is that mankind is the only one with the ability to make this choice. There is no Jonathon Livingston Seagull seeking a higher plane of existence.

I am constantly amazed at the beauty and variety in creation, but it makes me in awe of the One Who made it. I do not worship the creation and see it as more than it is.

"He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end" (Ecclesiastes 3:11).

I am sorry that a pretty little squirrel lost its life in a careless moment of running across the road, but it is not murder or vehicular homicide, and no inquest will be held. Let's face it: squirrels, nightingales, dolphins or grizzly bears were not created with the same potential as man (Genesis 1:26-28).