Learning from The Baby Elephant

Few weeks ago I went on a school trip to the Mara on safari. We had a small group; about 10 students and 9 staff. We left the school on Friday morning, for three day, and returned on Sunday evening. We drove about 5 hours. Instead of staying at a fancy hotel we decided to save some money and camp instead. We camped at an Adventist mission field. When we arrived, we set out tents, went on a walk, ate, had worship, and then went to sleep. We wake up very early the next morning excited to enter the park and spend the whole day there. We had a blast! We saw a lot of animals: buffaloes, zebras, lions, crowned canes, ostriches, elephants, secretary bird, water-bucks, and a leopard. After learning a lot about these animals, we left the park around 5pm. During our worship that night we went around the circle and everyone shared what he or she was blessed by for the day. One of the students, Dale, said that he was blessed by the way animals take care of their babies. “ It reminds me of how God takes care of us,” He continued.

The next morning we were allowed to go to the park for three more hours. It was worth dragging my self out of bed as the sun just rose. We saw a leopard and a cheetah walking not further than 10 feet away from us. However that was not what made the trip very special to me. What made it worth going was a scene I saw of an elephant and its baby. About 100 feet away from us was an elephant and her newborn baby walking across the park. We decided to drive closer to get better pictures of the baby elephant. When we came closer, there was another truck taking pictures of them as well. When the baby elephant realized that there were a lot of people around, it felt unsafe and scared. Without even thinking, it started running and hid under its mother’s feet where it felt totally safe and at peace. I immediately remembered what Dale said the night before. Yes, God is always there for us to run and hide under his feet when we are unsafe, hurting, lost, and scared. The question the kept going through my mind was not if God was there for us like the mother elephant was to her baby, rather it was, “do I run and hide under his feet in times when I need to?”  I was also thinking about Isaiah 49:15 “ Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the Child she has born? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!” It was impossible for me to even think that the mother elephant will leave her little baby unsafe, but even if she did, God will not leave it alone. So many times I tend to focus more on the situation I’m in rather than running to the person who will always be there for me. I tent to keep being insecure instead of running to my tower of refuge where I can feel safe and at peace. So my prayer was,” Lord, help me to learn how to take refuge in you when I am disturbed and unsafe”.