Feb
1
2022
A Bat In The Basement
Posted in Daily Living 4 Comments
We had a dead bat in our basement.
It has happened before.
It happened many years ago in the house we lived in before our current home.
I thought it was a one time thing.
I remember that winter morning.
I woke up and got dressed before the children were awake.
The house was very cold.
Something was wrong.
My husband had a full day of work ahead of him.
He quickly went down the basement before he left.
The heater was not working.
He asked me to call the heating company and have someone come out.
All this was done before my children came downstairs.
I knew I would hear, Mom, our room is so cold.
It was something they may not have noticed, snuggled under their comforters.
One by one I heard them; one by one the chorus was repeated.
The older ones had to go off to school.
In the hour after my call, a repair man came to the door.
You have no heat, he said as a statement, not a question.
That’s right. The furnace is down the basement, I told him leading him to the basement door.
After only a couple of minutes, he came upstairs.
Missus, your oil tank has run dry!
You got to make sure you keep oil in that tank!
I could feel the annoyance bubbling up inside me as I pulled my sweater around me.
Sir, if you check your records, we just got oil delivered ten days ago!
He seemed confused.
We do stay on top of things, so something else must be wrong!
He went back down the basement stairs.
About fifteen minutes later, he called from the bottom of the basement stairs.
Missus, can you come down here?
I went downstairs and walked towards the furnace.
You got a bat stuck in the flue of your furnace.
A bat? I said incredulously, actually recoiling a bit.
It’s dead, he informed me as if that would make it better.
How did a bat get in the flue of my furnace? I asked needing to know.
They get cold, too, he said as if that would explain it.
So, why is my oil tank empty? I asked not able to put the pieces together.
The bat’s head was stuck in the flue, and that kept the flue open.
Your heater was running and running, and that used up all your oil.
All my oil! I exclaimed.
You better get an emergency oil delivery, he told me, we have snow coming tonight.
I called and within the hour, an oil truck pulled up our driveway.
Another full tank of oil was delivered.
Two full tanks of oil were delivered and paid for in the last ten days.
The snow did come that night, at least two feet.
The bat was removed from the flue.
The heater was working as it should, now that there was oil in the tank.
The house was warm and cozy.
My husband was down the basement last week.
He came up and stood by my chair where I have my cup of tea each day.
I have two things to tell you: one good and one you won’t like.
Tell me the one I won’t like first, I said, surprising even me.
There was a dead bat in our basement.
He said those words in his matter of fact, engineer tone.
In the finished or unfinished part? I asked him, as if that really mattered.
In the finished part, on the rug, he said, as I found myself recoiling again like I did once before.
What did you do with it? I asked not really wanting to know.
I put it on a shovel and brought it outside and threw it in the woods.
Thank you, I said and meant it.
Somehow I never asked about the good thing he wanted to tell me, as I sipped my tea.
A dead bat in my basement.
Twice; many years apart.
The bat was not supposed to be there.
However, somehow it was.
How did the bat get into our basement each time?
We no longer have an oil heater in our current home.
Yet somehow, the bat still got in.
Now, I am cautious each time I go down the basement stairs.
Get wisdom, get understanding; do not forget my words or turn away from them. Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you; love her, and she will watch over you. The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding. (Proverbs 4:5-7)
As God’s Image bearers, we can acquire Wisdom.
God delights when we ask Him for Wisdom.
According to God’s Word, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. (Proverbs 9:10)
The fear of the Lord is right reverence of Him.
Bats are not able to have wisdom.
Instinct is the reason they seek to be warm.
There is no wisdom in instinct; there is only patterned behavior that may work or prove fatal.
We, as God’s Image Bearers, can have His Wisdom to guide us in our life.
That Wisdom will guide us away from places where we are not supposed to be.
That Wisdom will overrule instinct and patterns and “just because” behavior.
We still sin, even if we have God’s Wisdom, because of our fallen nature.
However, Wisdom guides us in righteousness and shows us the path we should take.
Wisdom is more precious than rubies, and nothing you desire can compare with her.
(Proverbs 8:11)
Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you; love her, and she will watch over you. (Proverbs 4:6)
Get Wisdom.
Get understanding.
A bat cannot do that.
Praise God, we can!
Back in the olden days of my childhood were my only bat incidents. But interestingly enough they were in the attic not the cellar— which was a nicer place—warm unlike the cellar and dryer too! But I have never liked them anywhere!!
I totally understand, Janna! At dusk, on spring and summer nights, bats fly quite low and very close to our heads. They have always made me uncomfortable.
Gina
Love this! Thanks Gina
You’re welcome, Paula.
I’m delighted you were blessed.
Gina