It’s been awhile since you’ve heard from me, Eagle Readers.
In the last three months, I’ve welcomed a beautiful baby girl, learned about the joys of parenthood alongside my husband and moved to a larger home in Oxford. While all these milestones are wonderful, life has not been without its hiccups.
One seemingly small hiccup has been the common housefly. I’m not sure if it was the weather, our proximity to the neighborhood dumpster or just the appeal of our house, but I’m certain I have inadvertently entertained every housefly in Lafayette County – no word on whether their celebrity cousin, The Vice Presidential Debate Fly, plans to visit anytime soon.
Vexed beyond belief after pulling a muscle in my fly-swatting arm and convinced I had developed trauma-induced tinnitus due to the buzzing in my ear, my husband and I cried out, “Lord, please rid us of these flies. Come bug spray or high water, free us from this buzzing burden.”
Well, I am here to tell you that God has a sense of humor. The next day, not one, not two, but three Orb Weaver spiders booked an extended visit on my front porch. My first inclination was to grab my broom and handle them the old-fashioned way – surely this porch wasn’t big enough for the four of us.
However, further research showed that the main diet staple of the Orb Weaver is, in fact, the housefly.
So, I left them alone. And since then, we haven’t had a single fly in our home.
When I prayed to be rid of the flies, I figured it would lead to Divine guidance in our selection of traps to catch and kill the flies, or repellents to keep them from crossing the threshold into our home.
Instead, I got spiders.
It struck me – sometimes, we have solutions to life’s problems all figured out. “Once I get this job, I’ll be able to afford that new car,” or “If I could just lose 20 pounds, I could fit into my old jeans again.”
“If God will just give me what I want, I’ll be alright.”
We don’t always get what we want when we turn to the Lord in prayer, but we can rest assured we’ll get what we need. Even if it’s creatures of the eight-legged variety.