I found a new wild friend hanging around outside our sun room. Want to meet him?
As a child, I feared bats greatly. They suck human blood and carry rabies, I thought. Also, they just looked plain creepy to me. When I saw a bat around dusk while I played outside, I would run inside and stay there.
As an adult, I realized that a bat is just a wild friend, not something to feel anxious about. Bats do help me: they eat pesky insects that love to bite my sensitive skin. Realizing I do not need to fear them, I began to look around and hope to see bats instead of the bugs that try to bite me constantly.
Then my husband and I moved to a part of the United States that has too many pesky insects. When we moved here, our new friends told us that bats had almost become extinct up here because of a disease called “white nose disease” that killed most of them a few years ago.
But yesterday we noticed a bat hanging upside down inside one of the storm windows of our sunroom.
He was trapped and could not find his way out. We unscrewed the storm window and he flew back to his bat friends.
When I saw this bat hanging under our storm window, I did have any thoughts of fear. Instead, I thought, “Great! Here is a wild friend who can reduce my bug bites!”
My thought processes with people are the same as my thought processes about bats. Although at times I feel frustrated with others, I seldom completely write anyone off. Instead, I just put a relationship on the back burner until I can deal with it. I do this because I never know when in the future the relationship might turn out to be positive.
For example, Donna has been a thorn in my side as well as in the side of one of my friends. She has been negative to me and to my friend, but I am not writing her off because someday we might be able to help each other. Who knows? Donna might turn out to be a “wild friend” someday like the bat pictured above.
Just some food for thought on this beautiful summer day.
Let the encouraging words in these near a river posts help you
soar like an eagle above life’s storms.
Learn from Ben and Jerry.
Anyone can be a good person.
You are more capable than you think!
Ever felt unable to move forward in your life?
