Life Lessons from a Guinea Pig

Ginger has been my home office roommate for the last couple of years. She was actually Sandra's Guinea Pig, but we adopted each other when Sandra went to Laurentian University last year.

Ginger had quite the personality - she learned the sounds that preceded food, and squeaked when she heard them... sounds like the vegetable drawer in the fridge being pulled out, or Silvia's feet hitting the floor in the morning. She would squeak and popcorn when excited, even if I was on a conference call - "what is that squeaking noise?".  Rodent, as she was affectionately called, knew the daily routine. If we forgot to give her the morning/evening yogurt treats, carrot, cucumber slice or Timothy Hay, Ginger would remind us by squeaking loudly and chewing on her cage until we gave her what was due.
 

Just shy of five years old, Ginger hadn't been herself for a few weeks, starting to forget her routines and losing interest in her treats.  Yesterday morning, she was no longer able to stand on her own. So, she spent the last 90 minutes of her life snuggled against my chest on my arm as she continued to lose strength. Her breathing became more laboured, until she was fighting for each breath... and after a few final desperate gasps for air, she stopped breathing and went limp. Ginger was gone. 


I wept.

Weep over a Guinea Pig? Yes indeed! I am a softy after all, even choking up in public when saying thanks to Phil and Marisa during their farewell a few weeks back.  Well, as I experienced Ginger's fight to stay alive, my mind went back into the hospital room some years ago when Silvia's mother was doing the same, shaking and shuddering trying to breathe... and I experienced all the emotions of that day all over again. All because of this little guinea pig.

During that last ninety minute struggle for life, I couldn't do much but try to make her as comfortable as possible, and reflect.

Crying over a guinea pig seems absurd. But is is as absurd as Almighty God, Creator of the universe, caring for me?

Psalm 8:3-4 I look up at your macro-skies, dark and enormous,
      your handmade sky-jewelry,
   Moon and stars mounted in their settings.
      Then I look at my micro-self and wonder,
   Why do you bother with us?
      Why take a second look our way?

Yet, God does bother with us. This Christmas season reminds us that He cared for us so much that He became like one of us, with a plan to give his life for us.


John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Ginger was most secure in her cage. She did like it when we took her out of the cage and put her on the floor to explore the room. When she felt threatened by any sudden movements, she would make a dash back to the cage. She wanted to go back to her little secure world.

Romans 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

Am I any different? When God takes me out of my comfort zone to stretch me to realize the potential He has created in me, don't I tend to also run back to the security of my comfort zone?


It was only in recent months as we'd spend hours together almost every day in the same room that Ginger was no longer afraid of me. In fact, she started welcoming me into the room with her little squeaks, and follow me expectantly as I walked by her cage. I had become her friend.


Romans 12:2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

It is as I welcome God into my life by spend daily time with God in His Word, listening intently for what He has to say to me, that I begin to understand God's love for me, that I become His friend... no longer in fear, but in true relationship. And then He does His work to transform me to be more like Christ.

In her last minutes as she was fighting for each breath, Ginger looked at me with pleading eyes: "help me".  But I couldn't do anything for her, except hold her.

  
Luke 1:37 For nothing is impossible with God.

There are more Ginger stories. She now rests wrapped up in a cloth diaper in a gingerbread cookie tin. My office is quieter, emptier and colder this morning.