What's Lurking?

A few times a day we feed "the critters".  The critters are an assortment of wildlife that congregates in and around the huge evergreen tree in our yard between us and the next door neighbors.  At this afternoon's feeding there were 8 squirrels (including "Stubby", who is missing part of his tail), a large selection of birds, including 4 or 5 cardinals.  The squirrels have us rather trained, as it is not uncommon for one or two to get on the window sill of the picture window and run back and forth so as to make noise...to let us know "where's the beef...er, food"?

It's neat to sit inside on a nasty cold winter day and watch the interactions of the critters.  They are focused.  All they want is a little something to eat, so they pretty much get along.  The squirrels, in fact, seem to play a lot.  All in all it is a pretty calming scene.  Like much of life, it is enjoyable. 

Then the whole idyllic scene gets ruined, and it happens in the blink of an eye.  The grackles swarm.  Grackles are a bit larger than blue jays (also noted for being bullys and thugs), and unlike blue jays, they come in flocks....large flocks.  The whole intent and purpose of these thugs is to steal the food and ruin a good thing.  They are, however, skitterish, so all one has to do is go by the window and wave an arm and they will all fly off.  Here is what they do:

• they lurk in the background...like in a tree a yard or two over, close but not too close
• they come in waves and disrupt
• they try to steal the good stuff from the innocent animals
• they are very patient...they will make foray after foray

Lurking grackles are much like sin and evil, which is always in the background.  Sin seems to feed upon sin and temptation always seems to come in waves, and it surely disrupts a life we are trying to lead.  Evil tries to steal our hearts by hardening them, and sin and evil are both extremely patient.  They never seem to rest.

How do you deal with the grackles in your life?