I’ve been a homegrown Canadian my entire life, which is why it was a little startling for me, a few months back, to read that a truly Canadian thing was a ‘Beaver Tail.’ I have to admit, I was at a loss. Was this like a lucky rabbit’s foot?
Beaver tails dangling off key chains is just something you don’t see a lot of around here. My grandpa used to drink a tonic of whiskey and beaver castors, but I was pretty sure that wasn’t it, either.
Life went on, though (as it sometimes does in Canada), and the beaver tail became another of those curious conundrums that had me perplexed enough to wonder, but not enough to warrant a full-fledged investigation.
Naturally, it was a welcome surprise when I was in town today waiting to pick up my daughter from work and spotted this in the parking lot across the highway.

Turns out, it’s a small pastry.
This was actually my second pleasant surprise today, though. This morning’s came in the form of a long-awaited answer to prayer.

I have this empty corner in my bedroom–maybe you have one, too. A phone sits propped on an old phone book, a basket of notebooks and other writing essentials, my journal binder (which hasn’t been getting a whole lot of attention lately), my Bible and a host of other books and loose pages lay scattered about. It’s where I go every day to read, journal, pray and pour out my heart.
Whenever I need to have a good cry it’s the place I run to. I’m kind of a floor person. When you make as many mistakes along the way as I do it’s a good idea to keep low to the ground.
Anyway, I’ve wanted one of these glider rocking chairs for a very long time now. I prayed often for one and then forgot all about it–until this morning. On my way home from bringing my daughter into work I decided to take some twists and turns down streets I don’t usually take and ended up coming back to the highway from a different direction. That’s when I spotted the yard sale, and this ‘in very good shape’ (a nice, sturdy one, too) rocker for $40. I offered $30 and was soon on my way home with it.
Even better than the answered prayer, though, is the lesson I learned from it. With one vehicle to spread between us, when my daughter had to be in to work for 8 and my son had a volunteer orientation session at 9:30, I wanted to do the practical thing and stay in town. Plus, I’ve been extra tired these past few days, and the doctor’s office called to let me know my iron levels are very low again. Everyday things seem formidable when you’re not quite up to snuff.
My son, however, was going out last night with his good buddy who is leaving any day now for the armed forces, and wanted that little extra time to sleep in. At first I told him we were all leaving the house at 7:15 and he’d better be ready.
Was it that big of a deal to make the trip twice? I relented.
If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have driven down that street at that time and seen that yard sale.
I think, sometimes God goes out of his way to answer our prayers when we’re going out of our way to answer someone else’s.