As part of my mom’s ongoing vocal exercises, she reads out loud at least 5 minutes a day. Most of the time she reads from a very silly – yet oddly relevant – book that my dad has had since the 1950’s. Tonight she read an article from “The Week”, a weekly publication that gives you an overview of the news. It also includes a smattering of other interesting narratives. The short story that my mom read was about the wolves in Yellowstone and the man who has been observing them for 15 years. He points out the similarities between the life of the wolf and the life of a human. The story followed one wolf in particular who is known as “21”. The man started watching him from the time he was just a pup as he, his siblings, and his mother were captured for a short time and fed to help assure their survival. Even at that young age, 21 was showing amazing behavior. While the others in the litter would run to the back of the enclosure, 21 would come forward in between the frightened cubs and the humans. One of his siblings was the runt of the litter and the others would stay away from it. But 21 would look for him and just be with him. And so it went. The family was released back into the wild and when old enough, 21 left his home and met up with another pack who had just lost their alpha male. 21 became the new leader of the pack and was accepted happily by the rest. His life and legacy grew as he battled to protect his family and his territory. One pivotal moment was when he led the fight against another wolf who kept coming around and bothering the family. The rest of the pack joined in the fight and just when it looked as if it would be the end of the intruder, 21 stopped and backed up. The other wolves followed suit. The badly battered prowler took the opportunity to escape. Little did 21 know that this act of mercy would ensure the survival of his extended family. The one time trespasser eventually became the leader of a pack himself that included some of 21’s grandchildren. The man even witnessed the behavior of 21 at the end of his life. The wolf seemed to know it was his time, left the pack, and went to a place where the family spent a lot of time raising the cubs. He found himself a spot under a tree, curled up, and was one of the only wolves known to have actually died of old age. The man points out the parallels between the life of the wolf and our own life and what we can learn from this. There are very strong family bonds and relationships that become part of our identity; leadership isn’t always about being the biggest and the strongest; it is important to go out of your way to welcome someone who is being shunned; sometimes deciding to act with mercy is ensuring a better future for those who come after.

I Found God today in a beautiful story about a wolf and realizing how much we can learn from other creatures that God has given us to enjoy.