Cereal Boxes and Sea Lions

Ashley McKinley
Dec 11, 2023
4 min read

Between mouthfuls of Panda Puffs at the breakfast counter, Beth reads aloud, "Did you know that Pandas spend up to 16 hours a day eating Bamboo?"

While this announcement doesn't immediately exude curiosity and awe, it does trigger a train of wondering questions in my spirit. Why does the Panda spend so much time eating something so boring? Why don't they eat something else? What would happen if they just didn't spend their entire day eating bamboo?

I believe that by their plain and simple obedience to doing the thing in which they were meant to do, they in fact are bringing glory to God. By eating that which they were designed to eat as often as they were designed to eat, they are maintaining their plump figures and staying healthy. Would they be as glorious if they were lean and less fluffy looking? I would argue not.

I pondered the simple, seemingly ignorant mentality of the Panda. Surely it could consume a more calorie heavy meal and then spend the rest of its time doing something more productive or fun. Surely, I would not consider this a wise or good thing if I were a Panda. I know there are better things to do, better things to eat, other ways to have fun and enjoy life, because I have decided in my heart that I know better.

I considered that the pandas are probably not unhappy eating bamboo all day, getting fat and tumbling around with their fluffy families. What blesses them with such contentment? Is it because they are just doing exactly what they were created to do and are satisfied in that? The pandas were not recorded to have eaten from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden. So even if they could be argued to have souls, they might not struggle against the knowledge and order that God has dictated to them as their good, appointed place in His perfect order.

I thought about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. How it destroyed not just our relationship with God, but did so by poisoning our thinking. Eating the fruit caused us to be disillusioned into thinking that we know better than God. That we know what we should be doing, what we should be eating, what we should be thinking and feeling... and all the "me, my, I" problems that bring torment are rooted in the brokenness of that relationship- that connecting that I was designed to have with Him- that relationship of enjoying Him and walking with Him and listening to all the ways that He designed things for my good and His glory. I all too often submit to the lie that I know better, because I too eat the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. Lord help me! Help heal my disillusionment and remember to seek you first in all things.

While I do believe that there are some significant differences between humans and pandas, I am learning from creation, from the beauty of its order and submission to its creator that contentment, health, and even joy, come from listening obedience to the will and direction of God. Lord, help me to seek your Kingdom first, so that I can more easily receive all of the amazing good things you have planned.

To add to the day, as I was picking up Zac from school, we biked along the water's edge. As we rolled along Kingman's path, I saw a giant sea lion breach the water and expose his entire massive side to the sky in play. Showing off the grandeur of his size, we marveled as he dove out of and back into the water. We pointed and squealed in excitement and awe. We asked God if He would please allow us to see the lion again. To our great delight we had not just one, but at least half a dozen more sightings on our short ride home. How much happiness we experienced in just watching this giant animal sommersault in and out of the water nearby. We praised God thanking Him for letting us see something so special together in the middle of an ordinary day. Our smiles rippled onto the faces of others as we met their faces and could not help but hold this lingering joy. Oh how marvelous his creation is and how He shows us such beauty through His creatures.

From Job 12 we read

7 “But ask the animals, and they will teach you,

or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you;

8 or speak to the earth, and it will teach you,

or let the fish in the sea inform you.

9 Which of all these does not know

that the hand of the Lord has done this?

10 In his hand is the life of every creature

and the breath of all mankind.

11 Does not the ear test words

as the tongue tastes food?

12 Is not wisdom found among the aged?