Home is where the bat is

One thing nevers changes and that is that things are always changing.  Yesterday's fashions are today's yard sale atrocities.  Remember when the Bay City Rollers were cool?  Nobody else does either.  There is a development of condos and apartments across the street from our church where not so long ago sage grass grew and wildlife roamed.  Things change.  Sometimes quickly and radically, sometimes slowly, inexorably,  things always change. 

Two days ago, I was sweeping the front porch when I heard a faint scratching noise just above and slightly behind me.  Intrigued, I sought the source.  In minutes, I found it.  Clinging to the brick wall behind a shutter framing our large picture window - we have "real" shutters that swing on a hinge to cover the window if desired or needed - was a small gray bat.  Peeking behind the shutter, I watched him as he adjusted himself, tucking in his wings and getting his grip for his day of rest.  I suppose if he were able to make such judgements, he might prefer to live in a more pristine environment.  All things being ideal for bats, he would dart above and through vast forests and meadows, snatching unsuspecting mosquitoes by night.  Pausing to occasionally munch a moist piece of fruit dangling from a lush tree in his benighted naturehood, he would return before light to a suitably damp cave to sleep, perchance to dream a batdream.  But alas, such places are harder to find  for the 21st century bat, the human thing being as unbiquitous as it is.  So, this particular bat is living in the coolest, darkest, most secure place he can find in his suburban lair . . . the gap behind a shutter at stately Wyndham Manor.  He has found a way to be what his Creator made him to be in his rapidly changing world.  He has adapted.  His Creator gave him that capacity.

We are endowed with that God-given capacity as well.  You and I can, and often must, change.  Our bodies change, our context for living changes, our relationships change.  Change is constant.  It is sometimes good, sometimes not so good, but it is.  To some degree our happiness or lack of it in this world has to do with how we adjust to changing times and circumstances in our lives.  I'm still learning this.  The writer of the biblical book of Ecclesiastes observed that there is a time for everything and that every thing, each thing in its time, is made to be beautiful by our Creator.  We may know the beauty of life's ever changing panorama as we adapt with the shifting scenes. 

God grant that I may change as all things in His creation change, that I may adapt as all of His creatures adapt, and that by His grace I may always find the way to live as He created me, and recreates me, to live.

Dr. Mike

Note:  Throughout the above, I have spoken of this bat as "he" and "him".  I didn't inspect him closely enough to determine his gender precisely.  This is an assumption I have made based on his distinctly masculine facial features, specifically a strong jutting jaw and a prominent brow.  Thanks, "DrM".