Beaver Guard

Weighing up to sixty pounds, beavers are the second-largest rodents globally. There are two kinds of beaver, American and European. They have only four teeth, two up and two down, and the four are continuously growing. If you do not have beavers living on your property, you admire their work ethic and building skills. You probably admire their swimming abilities and are intrigued by their flat tails. But, if you share space with them, your admiration and fascination may diminish. After all, they are rodents!

There are tree beavers who are of some renown. The first came to me by way of toothpaste

Toothpaste was my first encounter with a beaver. Ipana toothpaste used a beaver mascot called “Bucky” to promote their product.

Bucky Beaver became a household name from 1955 to the early 1970s. Bucky was created at the Disney Commercial Studios in the 1950s. He became the beloved mascot of Bristol-Myers’ Ipana toothpaste. You may remember the television and radio advertising jingle, “brusha brusha brusha!” Bucky improved my oral hygiene. He was a trusted friend encouraging me to kill all the harmful germs attacking my teeth.

I Googled beaver college mascots and discovered two and a half worth mentioning in this blog.

                Tim the Beaver was adopted as MIT’s mascot in 1914.

                Benny Beaver was adopted as Oregon State University’s mascot in 1952.

                California Institute of Technology uses a beaver, but I could not find the name.

I have an outdoorsman friend who, for a brief period, exercised his frontiersman identity as a trapper. He trapped beaver in the Wartrace Lake on the east city limit of Springfield, Tennessee. One of his catches was skinned and stretched on a rustic sapling stretcher. He eventually gave it to me. It was one of those exciting gifts that are very difficult to find a “wife-approved” location to display.

(My spell checker is having a fit with “Wartrace.” It’s insisting that I choose between “War trace” and “Wart race.” I’m tempted to choose the latter.)

The picture accompanying this blog post is of a sycamore tree on the edge of Pay Lake in Partridge, Kentucky. Unfortunately, they have a beaver problem. The rodents are killing trees around the lake and threatening the necessary water flow out of the lake. One of the solutions devised was to attach heavy gauge chicken fencing onto the trunks of the trees. It worked, though it did not immediately get rid of the beaver. Eventually, the beaver moved on downstream, driven by hunger and the need for building materials.

Unhealthy desires are a lot like beavers. They are fascinating to observe. They provide a means to remotely enjoy the temptations of our less disciplined life fantasized pleasures. But, at the same time, those desires can distract us from the wonder-filled and productive Kingdom possibilities of a healthy spiritual life.

Not all desires are corrupt, but all can be corrupted. So be careful what you long for. Every God-given good thing in life can be attached to our desires. So those parts of life like family, purity, honesty and a whole periphery of Godly characteristics need to have a wire mesh nailed around them to protect them from our gnawing beaver-like lusts. Meditation on God’s Word, fellowship with God’s people, and endurance in living out God’s promises are ways of applying for this protection.

Provers 5 is a good study and mediation point to ward off the beavers attracting your life vitality. Let your mind hear verses 8 -10. (“her” is “the forbidden woman” in the third verse.)

So now, my sons, listen to me

and don’t turn away from the words of my mouth.

Keep your way far from her.

Don’t go near the door of her house.

Otherwise, you will give up your vitality to others

and your years to someone cruel;

strangers will drain your resources,

and your earnings will end up in a foreigner’s house. (CSV)