They’re Back!

Remember the squirrels? The ones from last blog? Yeah, those squirrels – the ones that tore three holes in our screens to help themselves to birdseed left on the porch? Yeah, those screens. The ones we spent most of a Saturday replacing? Well, either we dreamed we replaced the screens or the critters came back and tore holes in the screens at the EXACT same places. Exact same places! It’s unbelievable. It’s like they had left a GPS signal. I thought squirrels were not supposed to be so bright. They hide acorns in the ground, forget where they hid them, and from these mighty oaks grow, right? That’s what we learned in 4th grade science anyway.

Lest you wonder, we did remove all traces of seeds or edible matter from the porch before we replaced the screens. So, we can only guess that squirrels DO have good memories after all. Or that they are creatures of habit – times ten!

What’s the take away here? And there’s always a take away, right? This time I found three.

First, don’t trust squirrels. Period.

Second, give squirrels time to learn (or unlearn) certain behavior before securing your perimeter.

And third,  don’t mimic their behavior.

Unlike most other members of the animal kingdom, I have the power to reason – to make good choices without Pavlovian conditioning. (Look up Pavlov’s dog on Wikipedia if you don’t know what this means.) So why do I go back to the same old empty places I’ve been before even when I know for sure there’s nothing there? I know from experience that worry produces nothing except stress and stress wreaks havoc on my mind, soul, and body. It actually puts me in control (in a backwards kind of way) and from experience I realize that is not a good place for me.

So every day I have to surrender my control to the One who has control. This will help me avoid repeats.

In Isaiah 26, there is a song lyric that the prophet predicted that the Jews would one day sing to God:

Verses 3 & 4 say:

“You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast because they trust in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord himself, is the Rock eternal.”

Also in Colossians 2:8, I like this reminder:

“See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.”

(I couldn’t find a scripture that relates to squirrels, but I’ll keep looking. In the mean time, I’m not replacing those screens just yet.)