You know the hymn, and the Bible reference, right? La la la -- "His eye is on the hamster, and I know He watches me." Just kidding! But I am here to tell you that God does care about hamsters. I witnessed His provision with my own eyes.
Last week my oldest took on the task of cleaning her hamster cage. The routine is that she puts the critter in his ball and shuts him in the bathroom while she tidies up his home. On this particular day, I stepped into the bathroom and noticed the ball sitting there all lonely-like and the hamster scurrying from toilet to bath toys to bath rug. AAAAAA! YUCK! HE's OUT!!!! Wiggle, shiver, hurry shut the door! I admit that rodents are not my favorite of God's creatures. I think they are pretty gross. So, when the hamster ran out of my reach and crawled into a little opening under the towel cabinet, I freaked out a bit. All day I pondered and stewed about the varmint and just where he might be lurking. We have a crawling baby in our house, and she puts EVERYTHING in her mouth. Her favorite is dirt and bits of splintery wood that get dropped when wood is being carried in to feed the fire. I'm sure hamster droppings would be right up her alley. Blek!
Before bed time, my husband and I explained to my sweet girl that we really could not have a rodent running free in our home - soiling the floors and counters; chewing at the furniture and toys, and getting into our food. She was saddened, but accepted matter-of-factly that we planned to set a trap. I'm still not positive if this was the best course of action, but we didn't know what else to do.
Without making this any lengthier, I will say that in the middle of the night I heard the hamster crawling around in our room. I turned on the light and it stared at me from under my side of the bed. As I gathered the courage to reach for it, it ran. I moved the trap to where I heard it next.
Here is where I saw the hand of God move in the life of a tiny rodent. The hamster crawled over the trap at least three times. He sat on the trap and ate the peanut butter off of it. THE TRAP DID NOT RELEASE! I couldn't believe it! By this time my husband was awake and suggested that the hamster might be thirsty after a whole day of roaming the house. I brought his cage into our room, opened the door, and stepped back. In the next few moments, I surely felt some of what Mr. and Mrs. Noah felt as they watched animals come from all over the earth and board the ark. The hamster ran up to his home, circled it a few times, and then walked right up the ramp and inside. I know that my eyes bulged, and I covered my mouth with shaking hands like they do in beauty pageants. I whispered in awe, "Honey, God really does work miracles!"
(Luke 12:6-7)
