Now, many of my readers have heard the Psalm and praise chorus, “As the deer…”  It’s a lovely song that communicates the absolute need we have for God and all that he has provided for us.  As the deer panteth for the water, so my soul longeth after Thee… the song goes.  It’s peaceful and restful and eloquent.

While I was in Tennessee over the Thanksgiving holiday, Mums and my sister, ShoeWoman, and I were out very early on Black Friday to go to a particular store for a new pair of appliances for ShoeWoman.  It was a cold morning, dark, but pleasant.  We were following another car (a nature photographer, as it turned out) who had to keep stopping for wild life.

Well, actually, for deer.

The deer we saw were generally in groups of three or four, bounding across the dark, two-lane road from one largely overgrown section of partially wooded lot to another.  They paused, looked alarmed (the deer-in-the-headlights-look is more than just a figure of speech!) and bounded off the road again.  Several times, as a matter of fact.  Later in the day, as morning’s light was burning off the mists after our shopping was completed, we drove back along another smallish road and saw yet more deer, contentedly munching greenery in a large yard.  They saw us, ignored us, then bounded away as we slowed down to turn.

All very rustic, no?

As I saw the deer – each time I saw them – the above-referenced psalm hummed in my memory.  Should have been quite soothing.

But I was not soothed. Instead, my wayward brain starts to compose

As the deer runneth from the headlights, so my will runneth far from yours…

You alone are the one who sees me, so I run, I run from you…

Sad, isn’t it? I found it amusing at the time, but with a poignant edge to my smile, I ceased trying to “filk” a sacred song and make it a joke.  For, really, it’s all too true. Instead of seeking the will of God, instead of thirsting after him for our daily sustenance, how often do we see him and run?  Avoid the light of his presence, avoid the path he might indeed have laid out for us?

As the deer runneth…

Still, there is hope for that deer.  When she has run far enough, she will indeed thirst.  And that thirst can only be quieted by good water.  As our thirst can only be quenched by God and his provisions for us.