I wrote this
two cats ago before our new siding was installed, which did diminish the
frequency of these unwanted visits.
These applications to God’s Word are still true, though…
Country living has some wonderful benefits
that are beyond compare. The furry ones
aren't exactly my favorites! Chester has caught his
share of moles when they wander into the house as the weather turns
colder. We've gone through a few rodent
purges in the shed, as mice rained down from the rafters -- literally.
Our biggest problem is a result of a
building flaw. I suspect there should
have been a foot or two of brick built up from the slab before the wood siding
starts. Since the siding goes all the
way to the ground level, crevices and entry holes are easy to excavate by all
manner of critters. Moisture from
melting snow has left the bottom edges rotting and curling up from the
"foundation", leaving ready made gateways into the world of humans.
I was
eating breakfast one morning and heard a scrabbling in the bathroom. I turned to see a fat chipmunk foraging
around the washer and dryer! Later that
day, when the chipmunk appeared in the kitchen, Rich fetched Chester from our bedroom to do his feline
duty. After that, there was no rest for
anyone until the rodent had been evicted!
Chester
screeched around corners and up and down our few steps. He caught his "mousie" several
times and had the poor critter terribly upset.
Finally, the chipmunk found a way out and disappeared for good. We haven't seen it feeding out under the bird
feeder since. Perhaps it expired of its
wounds or simply moved on to a more pastoral neighborhood!
Living on a slab encourages hoards of insect
refugees. I regularly evict crickets so
they won't keep us awake at night. I
never kill them (for one thing, they'd make an enormous spot!) because they are
useful insects, just not in the house.
Also, Chester
loves to chase them and eat the legs off them!
Ugh!! How repulsive! Such noisy pursuits in the night are not
appreciated by the humans.
Last night was our most disturbing incident
by far. Rich was sitting with Chester in the living
room and saw something moving in the hallway.
Did I say "slithering"?
He got up to turn on a light and found that it was a snake!! Unfortunately, Chester saw it, too, and R. had a terrible
time keeping him away from it until he could identify it. So he thumped on it with a broom for a while
and then we threw it outside. It was
only a small garter snake after all - about 12 inches long and no bigger around
than a pencil, but disturbing, none the less.
R. hates the thought of walking around the house barefoot with snakes
about and I get the willies to think it was in the hallway, on its way to our
bedroom!
Now I don't tell you these stories to
discourage you from coming to visit us. It's
not as if they are stampeding up and down the hall! But it did bring to mind our need for
continual diligence as per Peter’s warning in 1 Peter 5:8;
Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a
roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
He's always
looking for those little entry holes -- the rotten places in our defenses that
can be easily breached.
Sometimes it's the chipmunks of the world
that invade. Leisure and self-indulgence
look so appealing and harmless when they are outside our lives. But once inside, they gnaw away at the
beautiful fruit the Holy Spirit has been growing in our hearts and leave
droppings of selfishness in its place –
But the fruit of the
Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness and
self-control. Against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23
Crickets are like those annoying habits we
chase after, trying to get them under control and silence their persistent
nagging! There will be no peace or rest
until we've evicted them! God makes the
job so much easier by giving us the Helper, the Comforter, the Holy
Spirit. He's the One Who actually helps
us seal up the foundation around our "house".
Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in
Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in
our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. 2 Corinthians 1:21-22
Worst of all is the serpent that slithers
into our lives! What a loathsome and
frightening tenant! Envy and hatred slip
in when we're not paying attention and end up in our very "bedroom"
before we know it! Ugh! We hate it once we recognize it for the snake
that it is but often, by that time, much damage has been done and others have
been bitten. We ourselves are poisoned
by its influence on us as we walk unsuspecting and barefoot. We must always keep our feet shod with "the readiness that comes from the Gospel of
peace", Eph. 6:15. As Peter
admonished us, we must be ever on guard.
Keep the Light of God's Word ever shining in
your hearts so you won't be surprised by things that slither, gnaw or chirp in
the night!
Love as
always, Elaine (was that a cricket I
heard?)
