We have had a Rat
We have had a rat… for several months…in the house and in the yard.
I have been attempting defensive and deterrent maneuvers: placing chicken-wire frames over young seedlings, harvesting the late fruit from the orange tree, encouraging our dog to hunt the thing, moving the potatoes to another cupboard, all the while praying for God to deliver us. The rat that was stealing our cucumbers, breaking into our lone cantaloupe and our one honeydew (The garden was not especially productive this season…sigh.), had already chewed on the rafters in our attic and gnawed a hole under our kitchen sink! This week, I finally hit my breaking point when it began to strip and break branches out of our faithful little apple tree! This means war! God, help me get that rat!
The strategy was simple:
1. Place the un-set, empty trap for a few days where the rodent seems to travel, so the creature gets accustomed to seeing, smelling and interacting with it with no apparent harm. (Rats are smart and quick learners.)
2. Bait the trap with a piece of dog kibble secured with peanut butter, and set it, replacing it where it has been.
3. Wait and pray.
After several days of finding the traps either sprung and empty of bait or completely untouched, this morning I found a sprung trap on the ground under the apple tree, and nearby, I was startled to see the clearly disabled critter that has been our unwelcome guest.
The victory I had prayed for was not sweet, but grim.
It was with tears that I looked for a way to dispatch it and end its misery. The dog took matters out of my hands and buried the barely breathing thing in the pile of grass clippings that are awaiting their turn in the composter. (Yes, I will have to dig it out later…meat doesn’t go well in compost.)
This week I also dealt with another kind of rat, the kind that gnaws on the ties of love that hold us together as a family, the kind that eats away at peace and joy. It is the rat of a generations-long tendency to criticize and judge others: the rat that believes only my way of thinking, doing or speaking is the right way, but that hides those” little” judgments and uses them to build a nest for bitterness; the wicked vermin that sneaks out to steal unity by making little jibes or speaking careless words. This is not my first time to deal with this, and each time God takes me a little deeper or a little farther. This time He was confronting my tendency to be envious of those who take the time to be cared for, or who have things a little easy; but more to the point, He was calling me out for believing that my value hangs on my ability to go without such comforts, and for assessing those who had them as less valuable. A prayer time with a trusted friend and truth-teller has disabled the rat. I would rather it be dead and gone, but it will probably dig its way out and have to be dealt with again, in some broader or deeper way.
Until then, I will seek opportunity to display my new perspective in deeds first and then perhaps in words. I can’t hand that responsibility to the dog.
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