Deer Sex
And Other Signposts to the Holy

by Rollie J.

On a recent elk-hunting trip in the mountains of Colorado, my buddy John and I came upon a sight that gave us great pause. Brightly backlit by the morning sun was a beautiful double spider’s web. Now I’m sure that we had probably walked through hundreds of similar webs throughout our week's hunt, and possibly destroyed just as many without knowing it. Our focus, our intention, our attention was on the bigger things like big bull elk and the problems and frustrations we were having finding them.

These spider webs are almost invisible unless there is the perfect intersection of light, angle, and more importantly, a person moving slow enough to pause, to pay attention to, and to notice. The latter being the much rarer commodity. We were in need of a water and snack break (and realistically our third morning nap) so we threw off our packs and paused to marvel at this magnificent and often overlooked miracle.

This wilderness masterpiece of architecture and engineering had over 40 parallel cross-webs that circled outward in ever growing circumferences from the center hub. There were at least 24 spokes radiating out from the initial center web.

This work of art emitted few answers, and mostly gave off unanswered questions. How did the spider know where to begin? What was it about this location that she chose? How did she learn how to build this structure with such symmetry, balance and structural integrity? How could this crafty arachnid produce this miraculous thread that was both elastic, flexible and so tensile strong? And from her own body! How many bugs and insects had fallen prey to her sinister and almost invisible trap? I awoke from my stupor and thought; “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I wasn’t even aware of it!”

I’ve had a fascinating fall of bowhunting for our local whitetails. I get out early mornings and afternoons several times a week especially with a little extra time due to Covid. One of the side benefits to the lengthy and quiet seasons of bowhunting is that I get to witness so many fascinating aspects of nature that go mostly unseen by others.

In all my years of hunting I have never witnessed this, but twice this fall I have had a ringside seat to a buck mounting a doe. That’s a polite and proper way to simply say: deer sex. There, I said it in a church devo! Bear with me if you dare.

Think about it though. What an incredibly miraculous, complex, astonishing, and marvelous process this is to keep this particular species regenerating year after year. Hunters treasure this time of year called the rut, when bucks let down their guard and become more vulnerable. It is an often studied, yet still little understood, divinely inspired miraculous intersecting of daylight, moon phases, chemistry, temperatures and electrical circuitry wired into these magnificent creature’s brains. It is short lasting, a few weeks a most. It has little to do with pleasure, and all about passing on genes and procreation.

In this particular small woodlot behind my house, I ponder that this phenomenon has carried on year after year for centuries. I try to imagine these Oakport woods long before the white-man’s arrival when Dakota or Annishinabe peoples wandered here searching for meat and sustenance. And then the 10-12,000 years prior to that, the unnamed woodland peoples did the same. And then for thousands upon thousands of years prior to these natives arrival, long before humans wandered Oakport… the deer were still reproducing. These deer I witness on a daily basis have ancestors that go back farther than I can comprehend. I awoke from my stupor and thought; “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I wasn’t even aware of it!”

And let's take this one step further for us as  humans. We are one of the few species on earth who have been given this beautiful, extraordinary,  and marvelous gift of sex not only for procreation of our species, but for the wonderful gift of physical pleasure, emotional bonding, building families and human connectivity. This gift is an insanely complex interaction of attraction, sight, sound, smell, tactile, chemical, and electrical circuitry that we can barely understand. But its source can only be traced back to the Divine, given to us to celebrate and enjoy by our Creator. I awoke from my stupor and thought; “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I wasn’t even aware of it!.”

When the patriarch Jacob (Genesis 28:11-22) ran from his home, lay down his head upon a stone pillow and had his famous dream about the stairway to heaven, he awoke from his sleep with brand new insight and revelation. He awakened and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I wasn’t even aware of it!”

This should literally be the theme song of our generation. We are asleep, we are blind, we are numb, we are insensitive, we are unaware, we are unconscious, and we are oblivious. God is present and woven into to all things if only we slow down and have eyes to see and ears to hear.

Yet we feel entitled to more and more stuff, more happiness, more experiences, more activities that might make us feel, see, and draw closer to God. Yet like Jacob, maybe our task is to simply awaken from our stupor, look around us, and become aware of the miraculous that lays upon our feet daily. To appreciate, perceive, enjoy, and acknowledge God’s presence woven into the very fabric of our everyday life. To know and perceive that the holy and sacred surrounds us.

Maybe today instead of complaining for want, in the midst of COVID, you can look at your work/job and say:

“Surely the Lord is in this place, and I wasn’t even aware of it!”

Your family and say; “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I wasn’t even aware of it!”

Your marriage and say; “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I wasn’t even aware of it!”

Your friends and say: “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I wasn’t even aware of it!”

Your church and say; “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I wasn’t even aware of it!”

Your school and say; “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I wasn’t even aware of it!”

And just as importantly do not forget yourself. God is within you. You are holy and sacred, and you are made in His likeness. He has even placed His very own Holy Spirit within you. “Surely the Lord is in this me, and I wasn’t even aware of it!” In this anxious, scary, and difficult time of pandemic do not forget that God dwells within you. “Depression often occurs when we have forgotten to love the presence of God in all living things—including, maybe especially, in ourselves.” Robert Wicks, Spiritual Resistance

May God give you the gift of paying attention. That most rare ability in these modern times, to listen for and perceive his presence woven into all things, peoples, and situations.

-- Rollie J.