It is arrogant to think that we come first, that we matter most, that God loves us best. Or to imagine that other creatures would love to be like us, to be human, too! Of course nothing could be further from the truth as all creatures go about their lives completely fulfilled and in every way perfectly at home in their own skin! So the kingfisher, rattlesnake, grasshopper, frog, worm, all live lives that we can only wonder at (no matter how close we come to them) for we cannot imagine what it must feel like to be dolphin, kestrel, mollusc, or moss.
All of them embodiments of the great Unknown, all revealing a different flavour of the goodness of God. Every species a masterpiece!
How silly of us then to think that the spider would be willing to give up its ability to spin silk in exchange for playing the piano? Or migrating birds their sense of travel and direction for becoming a football fan or being good at business or ballet?
It’s true we all have our senses (to varying levels of achievement) to make sense of life and happily for us all the wonder of diverse beings to accompany us on that journey. Theirs is the sweetness our souls need as we find ourselves ever more anxious on an increasingly lonely planet. How could we ever survive in a world where ours was the only fragrance of acclaim; ours the only show in town?