Let the hawks eat snakes… the snakes eat mice… and the mice eat insects. I was recently awakened to the fact that I’m not always a big fan of the “circle of life.”

After filling up the bird feeder and adding water to the birdbath, I heard a huge ruckus behind me. The little birds I had just fed were now fleeing for their lives as one of their own had been caught and tucked tightly in the mouth of my new yard buddy, Oreo the cat.

I had fooled myself into thinking that if I fed Oreo enough cat food she would lose her innate desire for food with a feathered crust but I quickly realized that her primal tendencies would override anything Publix cat food had to offer. It served as a vivid reminder to the danger found in my own “feather crusted food” – those fleshly desires that linger until our last breath.

There is no doubt that Oreo will continue to enjoy her feathered feasts because she is a slave to her nature, but thanks be to God, I am not.