The Bat Chronicles:
learnings from bats over the years.
A very wise friend asked me a number of weeks ago, when she made the half hour drive to my residence at about 4.30 am, in response to my morning call-out simply stating “there’s a bat in the house” …
“what do you think the bat is trying to say to you?”
Somewhere in the panic-addled spaces of my psyche, the fear of bats was eclipsed by my own curiosity; I thought back on the various encounters with bats I have had over the years since I moved out of my parents’ home. What were those bats trying to tell me? Historical events look so different when we are encouraged to approach recollections with curiosity, rather than focusing on the rabid fear experienced in during the original scary event(s).
It does give one a whole new perspective!
When I thought back, over the course of almost three decades, bats have shown up seven times in total, in my home or in close proximity to my work or ministry life. Those appearances were auspicious in a number of ways which became obvious when I turned them over in my mind’s eye with curiosity, rather than fear.
Over the next few weeks, I will chronicle these bat encounters. In these chronicles, I will (implicitly and explicitly) invite you also into a curiosity about what your most feared experiences may have been trying to say to you.
Perhaps your fears also may be offered another perspective by your curiosity. My goal is to provide a steady stream of thought fodder for the next few weeks, all centred around what the bats may have been saying … what the messages behind the fears might be.
May we all hear with clear ears through the din of our fears.