As I was foraging for Lipid Literature this morning, I stumbled across a short article claiming that “Squirrels Land Like Superheroes.”  I love a good squirrel, but as much as I wanted to believe that they gracefully land in the classic, iconic 3-point stance of invincible movie protagonists, my firsthand experiences left me skeptical.

I was kicking a soccer ball in the front yard with my Mom when I was 7 years old, and a squirrel was attempting to leap from our house to a power line at the exact moment that I unleashed a precociously powerful punt. Apparently distracted by the ball’s arc, the squirrel COMPLETELY MISSED THE JUMP and landed about 10 feet from my surprised mother. 

If “heroic” is “sprawled out flat like a pancake,” then yes, this squirrel landed heroically.  We initially thought he was dead, but before I had even started preparing the eulogy, he popped up and scurried away.

And I found several other articles from Squirrel Biologists (now THAT’S a rewarding career path…something to think about for the kids out there). And these publications confirmed that squirrels land a lot like the rest of us…it’s not always graceful or elegant.

Life will chew you up, spit you out, bring you to your knees, and leave you flat on your back. And sometimes it’s because you got distracted, miscalculated with your commitments, and displayed dereliction of duty.

But it’s not the initial landing that matters. The failures don’t define you…it’s the way that you respond to adversity.  Trials either make you bitter or they make you better, and if you take up your cross once again after being knocked down, you can emerge even stronger than before. 

Humility is the first step to heroism. But to truly channel your Inner Squirrel, you have to get back up and continue running the race set before you😊

James 1:2-4