Lions and Tigers and Bears, oh my!

Ok, not really these animals but it felt like it and I found myself singing this out loud as I tried to enjoy a quiet early morning time with the Lord.  One of my favorite things since moving to The Gambia is to get up early and go sit in my backyard rocking chair under the dark and star filled sky (no light pollution here) and spend some good time in prayer and just listening to the Lord while enjoying my morning coffee.  Sounds pretty relaxing doesn’t it?  Well, sometimes it is relaxing and sometimes it is not.  Earlier this week as I awoke I was excited because the rain had stopped in time for me to get outside and listen to the Lord.  However, as I sat there trying to listen to the Lord I heard the noise of several “critters” scurrying around in my very dark backyard.  In the span of about 5 minutes I had two huge rats (yes, they are bigger than my cat) traipsing around my backyard and when I shined the light to get them out of my backyard I got buzzed by a huge fruit bat (they are creepy looking with big teeth) and lastly a small and very cute hedgehog came slowly rumbling through my yard.  I was absolutely fine sharing my backyard with the cute and harmless (unless my cat messes with it) hedgehog, but the rats and bat had to go.  So, instead of singing “Lions and Tigers and Bears, oh my” I found myself singing “Rats and Bats and Hedgehogs, oh my!” And in case my morning was not  critter filled enough, after the sunrise I found a snake skin, or shirt as the Gambians called it and a young donkey in my backyard.  I think it might be time to get my fence repaired.   I pray your mornings start off with a good time where you can listen to the Lord instead of the critters or other noises that are so prone to drown out His voice.