The Golden Eyes of Gratitude:

A Lesson from a Garden Snake

I’m going to preface this story with a note that the entire experience is true. It may sound impossible to you, but believe me when I say that I can still see it as if it were yesterday.

A few summers ago, we were having a bit of a mouse problem, especially in our garage. We live in a very rural area on a mostly wooded property, so they tend to be prolific, especially when it’s rainy.

My cats, Sherlock and Minou, are usually pretty good at keeping the population at bay, but that year, the number of mice trying to migrate from the woodpile into our residence was more than they could handle.

After a few weeks of feeling as though we were at war, my husband invested in some mouse traps and placed them strategically throughout the garage.

One morning in early August, a few weeks after the initial placement, I stepped out into the garage to retrieve my purse from my car where I had left it the night before.

As I pulled it from the passenger side, something made me look to the left and down, where I noticed a garden snake wrapped around one of the traps. On closer inspection, I saw it was caught in the trap. My heart immediately went out to the poor thing as I thought about it being stuck there all night.

On investigation, it was clear that not only was the snake alive, but it lifted its head to meet my gaze, its tongue zipping in and out of its mouth.

When I squatted down to take a closer look, it became clear that the spring had popped, pinning the poor little guy to the wooden base at the center of its length.

“You’re okay,” I said, praying to God that it truly was.

I was sure it was a harmless garden snake, so I carefully lifted the spring to release the little guy from the trap. The snake looked at me for several moments before unwinding itself and stretching out on the garage floor. Quickly, I hit the switch to lift the door and urge the little guy out into the fresh air.

As a hot breeze blew into the garage, the snake looked toward the open door for a moment before turning back to me. Pulling itself up, it stared at me inspecting me closely.

“You’re okay,” I said with a smile as it continued to regard me with golden eyes. Noticing the dent in its back from the trap, I added, “At least I hope you are.”

After a minute or so, the snake skittered out the door, onto the driveway, and into the damp grass, and I wished it well as it moved away.

But suddenly, when it was only a few feet away, it stopped, lifted its head, and looked toward me, before slithering back in my direction. The move surprised me—I grew up in the country and have always been around nature, but I had never seen a snake act this way.

Within seconds, it was once again at the door of the garage, lifting itself up and staring at me, its bright red tongue slashing in and out.

I couldn’t help but smile. “What?” I asked with a grin. It moved a little closer and once more lifted itself up. I decided to squat down so I would be at the same level.

“What’s up?” I asked again.

Within several seconds, it headed back down the driveway and into the grass. Sure it had moved on, I reached for the hose to water the flowers in the boxes when I noticed it slithering back!

Shutting off the hose, I again squatted down, but this time as it lifted itself up, I smiled and said, “You’re welcome.”

Seeming satisfied, it slithered into the grass, and this time, it didn’t return.

This experience will stay with me for the rest of my life. I learned as a youngster that only humans have souls, but honestly, my experience has shown me more soulless humans than soulless creatures in nature. It’s hard to know for a fact that the snake was offering its gratitude (and maybe a request to get rid of the mouse traps!), but that’s certainly what it felt like.

Nature is an amazing thing, offering so many lessons in how to treat one another. For me, gratitude is first and foremost. I have learned that even on the worst day, there are reasons to feel grateful.

If you would like to start a gratitude practice, something I have done daily since the mid-1990s, a copy of my FREE downloadable gratitude journal can be found here. It is a twenty-one-day journey I put together from my own experiences.

I hope you enjoy it!