Bats

As we chose to stay for a while in Colorado, a colony of bats chose to take resident in our attic in Houston. We were warned by sightings inside our house of a couple of dead ones and one in the swimming pool.  So, When we got home, we went on a lookout and saw them exiting from the house through several  hideaways just under the roof.   Dusk was their designated time to go searching for their meals of insects; they were very deliberate and on cue.  How do they know? But these were unwelcomed squatters. 

The real “batman” was called to take action to dismiss them. So his team came and sealed the entire exterior of the house and attached exit ramps for the bats to get out without the ability to reenter.  It was a true evacuation process, and it was kinda of unbelievable that so many bats had taken up residence. All they needed was a 3/8 inch opening and because of their sensory capability they were able to determine their surroundings by sensing air flow.

This made me think of how often we let thoughts, fears and anxious wonderings slip though the cracks of our consciousness.

The cracks are small and unsealed and give way to inhabitant wanderings that cause us havoc.  They seem to linger in the darkened crevices of our minds and are content to be hidden from the light. For in darkness dwells: distrust, discontent, dreary illusions, and  distress. And that is not what God has deemed for our existence.  

We don’t have to dwell in darkness; for God has given us his love, his promises his grace and his everlasting peace.  And an exit ramp for darkened settlings has been deployed for us just by seeking God and calling his name and asking for his help at any time. He will help us  to evacuate those thoughts that have creeped into unwanted spaces.  

 And just as bats go flying out in the dark seeking bugs, we are to be living in the light and feasting on what is good and the blessings that fill our hearts with joy.  For happiness depends on circumstances… joy is knowing that you have a God whose Holy Spirit  lives within you, surrounds you with his presence and sends his son Jesus everyday to be your advocate and guide.  

Bats are scary because of the shape of their bodies, the wing span , the texture of their skin, and the many myths we have been straddled with.  But in reality, a bat is only as bad as we make him out to be.  They aren’t looking to annoy us, or scare us and if we look at them in a different “light” we can see that they are pollinators just as bees and butterflies, they have been given by God a unique ability to have sensory gifts that can tell all about their surroundings by using sound to “see” the world around them.  When in flight, bats heart beats 1,000 times a minute! And if we just look at bats as flying birds who mean us no harm and are just our for a bug fest, then they retreat and wait for another day, we can change fear to fact that they are strange creatures, who are designed to eat bugs and pollinate fruits and drop seeds along the way for trees.  I am not condoning them as residents but after learning a little more about them, they are not so scary.  

Just as our house was sealed from the outside with constructed exits paths from the inside, we too can ask God to come and seal our hearts and minds from darkness and let his light shine brightly within us.  

John 1:5

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

Praise God wherever you are or whatever situation he has allowed you to be in...for his Glory will shine through!

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