In the upcoming days, many congregations will hold a "Blessing of the Animals" service. These gatherings are most often held in October in celebration of St. Francis, the saint who is often depicted with birds on his shoulders, chipmunks at his feet and deer at his waist. Clearly, he was a big nature and animals guy.

Celebrating a "Blessing of the Animals" service is always a risky proposition. I was always worried that some little cherub would bring his boa constrictor in for a blessing and not being exactly a fan of snakes (read: I've been known to leave a running lawn mower when one slithered across my path), I was not sure how to handle that situation in a pastoral and kind manner and didn't think proclaiming to the snake "get thee behind me satan!" would do much for the esteem and faith development of the youngster who claimed the snake as his pet.

However, there is a huge "cute factor" to the service as kids come forward with their bunnies and kittens and puppies and parakeets and hamesters and turtles and....yes, even their.....insects.

Once upon a time at a "Blessing of the Animals" service, children were coming with their dogs...lots of dogs and a few cats...sigh....and a herd of hamsters and a bunny added for good measure. As the blessing for the animal and the owner was given all attention was on the child and their pet. It was into this scene that a young boy about 10 years old came forward with a match box. I was hesitant and asked, "And what's your pet's name?" To which the lad replied, "His name is Anty. He's my pet ant." Sure enough inside the match box was a little black ant. I offered blessing upon Anty and Anty's owner.

Truth --- I don't really believe that the boy had this ant as his long-standing pet. I don't believe he taught the ant tricks or fed the ant crumbs of cookies and breads. I don't believe the pile of matches in the church kitchen just happened to be there conincidentally.

I do believe there was a deeper lesson to the blessing of Anty that is at the heart of most blessings. The little boy without any pet wanted to be part of what was happening in the service. He wanted some of that attention. He wanted a blessing. In return, he blessed those with "eyes to see" as the scripture says. He was creative and resourceful. He was familiar with the occasional ant that crawled on the floor in the Sunday School wing (vanilla wafers leave tasty crumbs). He knew were the matches were in the kitchen as he'd seen them used to light the burners on the stove.

He taught a lesson in how far one will go to receive a blessing and be included. We all should be so passionate. The community of faith would benefit from the resourcefulness he displayed. We would do well to remember the sacredness in all beings and all creation --- the big and fluffy along with the small and often overlooked. We would do doubly well to make it a point to offer blessing upon all who come seeking.

sj;