North American Porcupine
The porcupine is the second-largest rodent in North America. Its hair is a mix of brown, black with white highlights that aid in nighttime visibility. Adults have 30,000-40,000 quills that are for both self-defense and insulation.
The quills have an antibiotic quality that doesn’t do much for attackers, but protects the porcupine itself if injured in a fall by their own quills. (They fall out of trees a lot because they can’t resist tender buds growing at the very ends of branches.)
Learn more about quillwork – a Native art that uses the porcupine quill
What do you love about this particular creature?
What do they reveal to you about God and our faith?
Porcupines are more like people than I realized. They want to be seen. They only put their shields up when they are under attack. When they go on the offensive, their barbs wound and scar the attacker. They fall down a lot, but the Creator has made them resilient.
They have within them the thing that heals. They get a bad rap for being hard to get close to, but they are good and holy lovers of the creation.
Author - The Rev. Vicki Ix, Connecticut River Valley
I am a New Jersey native transplanted into New England/Native soil. We have spotted many creatures in our Florence, MA backyard: raccoons, bobcats, foxes, black bears, opossums, chipmunks, squirrels, and a delightful variety of bird life.
The Connecticut River runs through it all, nourishing the creation.
God of Word and Light, you have ordained and constituted in a wonderful order the ministries of all creatures above and below. Mercifully grant that, as the disciples were granted to see Christ on earth, our eyes would be opened to the spiritual reality all around us today; through Jesus the Wisdom of Creation, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Creation Collect for St Michael and All Angels from Season of Creation, A Celebration Guide for Episcopal Parishes