Hello, God. It's me, Mara.

You know, Lord, sometimes something we see reminds us of something we heard, long ago; time, place and author, unknown. Seeing deer in the yard brought to mind this story about deer fillings. The author, a retired pastor, couldn't handle retirement so he volunteered at various places, doing various jobs because he knew that Old Folks Saying: "Old preachers never die, they just go out to 'pastor'". He worked an afternoon shift at a retirement center, stating that his wife pushed him around in the morning, so now he got to push other people around.

He worked with another fellow transporting folks here and there. One day at snack time, while they were enjoying a meat snack, his buddy winced in pain, reached into his mouth and pulled out a chunk of lead from some deer sausages, obviously a piece of the shotgun slog that had dispatched that particular deer to its heavenly reward! He put the corn-kernel-size piece of metal on the table. A young 'inexperienced' nursing assistant came into the room. Well, this preacher had an overactive sense of humor, so as she entered the room, he told her: "Look! My buddy found a deer filling!"

She lost control and literally ran out of the room shouting, "Danny found a deer filling!" The author stated that he and his buddy bent over double with gut-wrenching laughter and even had tears running down their faces. They could just imagine themselves being veterinary dentists, catching deer, anesthetizing the deer, examining their teeth and filling a cavity. He could picture a "Field Deer Dentistry Kit!" They knew that deer don't have cavities, but every time they looked at each other, they'd bust out laughing.

Provebrs 17:22: "A merry heart does good, like medicine." Proverbs 15:15 "He who is of a merry heart has a continual feast." Thank You, Lord, for an enjoyable visual example of these verses.

Love Mara