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Meet Traute Klein, biogardener.
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Feeling Secure on the Edge
by Traute Klein, AKA biogardener
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A feeling of safety does not depend on physical surroundings as much as on the knowledge of having supernatural protection. The squirrel in the fork of the tree knows he is safe, and I feel safe surrounded by a loving family.
Faye's Squirrel Story
First if all, I want you to read a true story which my internet friend, Faye Narron, emailed me on January 16, 1999. She quotes a Bible verse and then tells a story to illustrate it. I can see a universal application in Faye's story which transcends the religious realm.
I will both lay me down in peace and sleep, for you, Lord, only make me dwell in safety. (Psalm 4:8)
 We have a rather large dogwood tree outside our bedroom window. When I looked out yesterday afternoon, there was a squirrel asleep and stretched out in the "V" of one of the highest branches. Because the branch was smaller in diameter than the squirrel, he was hanging off on both sides, and his tail was hanging down and blowing in the breeze.
It amazed me that this squirrel could rest as he was balanced there, much less be asleep, though I am sure he must have felt safe enough. He was certainly high enough to escape the threat of being chased by our two dachshunds who were patrolling the back yard!
My Own Story
Now here is the answer I emailed back to Faye:
That squirrel of yours rings a bell in my life.
During the after-WWII chaos in Germany, our family of five was living with my grandparents in one single room. We had one bed for all five of us with a sack stuffed with straw as a mattress. We had pillows on both ends of the bed. My parents slept with their heads on one end and we 3 children, like sardines, with our heads on the other end. My spot was on the outside, sleeping on my tummy with my right arm hanging out onto the floor.
That became a cherished position of comfort for me, just as the fork of the tree branches is for your squirrel. I felt protected. Forever thereafter, I felt comfortable in that position, even when I had a whole bed to myself. While living in a college residence one year, I shared a tiny room with another girl. I chose to sleep in the top bunk. I took the protective board off the side to be able to hang my arm out. And I never once fell out of bed.
When you know where the edge is, you don't fall.
A New Source of Security
Sixteen years ago, I was hurt in a serious accident. I was no longer able to lie on my tummy, because it bothered my neck. Having to lie on my back all the time made me feel very uncomfortable. During my sleep, my right arm kept searching for that protective edge to grasp. It wan't there. My right arm now was in the middle of the bed. Searching for the edge, I kept falling out of bed and would have continued to do so if I had not built up the area beside the bed to shield me from falling out.
To this day, I have never told anyone why my bed is surrounded by softness into which I can fall. Not even my husband knows. Your squirrel story got my secret out of me. I know how safe that squirrel feels up in that fork. If someone built him a large platform on that tree, I guarantee, he would fall off.
That squirrel knows what he needs to feel secure. Not a fence, not a guardrail, not a platform. Just a feeling of being protected.
Looking back
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