I do not like squirrels at all! Honestly, I think they’re jerks. When I lived in Colorado, they wreaked havoc in my home when they broke in through a window screen. Plus, they stole plastic eggs from two different Easter egg hunts. Yet, what I have seen them do lately really gets on my nerves.

We live in the Atlanta area and rent a wonderful home. It is one of the many things that God has provided for us over the years. We have a big backyard and a small wooded area in our front yard.

Since we have many birds near our home, I recently decided it would be fun to feed them. I originally bought bird and hummingbird feeders that stick to the windows. Yeah, they did not work out well at all.

So, I got rid of those and started putting bird feed directly and generously on the window ledges. This worked well, and birds began to come, but so did the squirrels! No matter how many times I banged on the window to scare them away or let our dog outside to chase them, they kept coming back and stealing the food I intended for the birds!

One day, before I finally bought a squirrel-proof bird feeder, I was reminded of when Jesus got angry in the temple.

Matthew 21:12-13 says,

“Then Jesus went to the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. And he said to them, “It is written, “My house shall be a house of prayer.” but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.'”

The place where the vendors set up their tables was part of the outer temple. It was a holy space intended for Gentile believers to pray to God since they could not enter the inner temple. The Jewish buyers and sellers stole the Gentiles’ space of comfort and communion with God.

Because of my recent adventures with animals in our yard, I can better understand Jesus’ strong emotional response to theft. I know that my anger with squirrels can’t compare to Jesus’ anger at seeing the house of God being defiled. Yet, I am grateful that God uses my life’s small and mundane things to remind me of certain truths about his never-ending love for us.

God desires communion with us. He has set aside holy places in our hearts so we can speak to him through the Holy Spirit. Because of his passion for us, God will get rid of things in our lives that are keeping us from knowing him.

I pray that today, God will remind you of his love for you through the small and mundane!