{"id":1923,"date":"2011-11-02T01:00:25","date_gmt":"2011-11-02T05:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/simplelife\/?p=1923"},"modified":"2011-10-25T21:34:37","modified_gmt":"2011-10-26T01:34:37","slug":"please-dont-feed-the-animals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/11\/please-dont-feed-the-animals.html","title":{"rendered":"Please don’t feed the animals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Often my neighbors and I talk about the varmints that live in our attics.\u00a0 We have tons of squirrels.\u00a0 Then there are the raccoons and opossum\u00a0which ravage our insulation with their nests and filth.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>Putting out traps and carrying the rascals away only means that new animals take their place.\u00a0 They rip open our soffets and hide cleverly in the warmth of our homes.<\/p>\n

“There is no way to get rid of them,” I told a new neighbor during a recent conversation, “not as long as the people who live behind me are feeding them.”\u00a0 This well-meaning very elderly couple attract the animals\u00a0like mosquitoes with their peanuts, bird seed and cat food.\u00a0 This has been going on for decades.\u00a0 Obviously, the animals are smart enough to\u00a0not<\/strong>\u00a0hide in the offending couple’s\u00a0house because they continue to be the neighborhood feeding station.<\/p>\n

Within the mentally challenged (developmentally delayed\/mentally retarded)\u00a0community, there is a wonderful axiom that every person should all learn to live by.\u00a0\u00a0 If someone is harassing a member of The Special Gathering, a ministry within this cloistered sub-culture, they\u00a0are\u00a0taught to “ignore them and walk away.”<\/p>\n

Of course, our members don’t always follow their own advice.\u00a0 People who have symptoms of autism seem especially sensitive to hurts and offenses.\u00a0 Arnold paces frantically reciting the hurts of the day.\u00a0 “He called me stupid.\u00a0 She tries to speak to me.\u00a0 He won’t speak to me…”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>I remember taking Michelle in the post office\u00a0one Saturday when I was checking my mail.\u00a0 Michelle is a college student who exhibits autistic tendencies.\u00a0 Her diagnosis bounces from Asperger’s Syndrone\u00a0to\u00a0High-functioning Autism.\u00a0 She\u00a0has an off-the-charts IQ.<\/p>\n

We had gone our separate ways once in the post office building because she wanted to get some stamps.\u00a0 Suddenly, she began to scream.\u00a0 I raced to her, calling out her name.\u00a0\u00a0“What is wrong?”\u00a0I asked when I found her in the deserted\u00a0post office hallway, sobbing between her screams of “No!\u00a0 No!\u00a0 No!”<\/p>\n

Within a few minutes, she had calmed herself enough to tell me, “The machine is out of stamps!\u00a0 I\u00a0wanted to mail this letter to a mail order company and they are out of stamps.\u00a0\u00a0 How could the post office\u00a0do this to me?”\u00a0\u00a0She has never used that post office again and she emphatically states that she\u00a0“never will.”<\/p>\n

However, ignoring the offender is a tried and true Biblical principal.\u00a0 We are all familiar with the scripture that says, “‘Vengence is mine.\u00a0I will replay,’ says the Lord.”\u00a0 Solomon said in Proverbs 20:22, “If someone does something against you, don’t try to punish him yourself.\u00a0 Wait for the Lord!\u00a0 In the end, he will make you the winner.”<\/p>\n

Each of us needs to remember that feeding the varmints of hurt and disappointment in our lives will only reap more and bigger hurts.\u00a0 Walking away and ignoring the hurts rather than feeding them will always result in a better life.<\/p>\n

Are there areas in your life that you are “feeding” what should be ignored?\u00a0 Have you seen other people who have benefited from this godly principle?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Often my neighbors and I talk about the varmints that live in our attics.\u00a0 We have tons of squirrels.\u00a0 Then there are the raccoons and opossum\u00a0which ravage our insulation with their nests and filth. Putting out traps and carrying the rascals away only means that new animals take their place.\u00a0 They rip open our soffets…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":387,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,5,20,40,287,186,49,16,8,263],"tags":[690,21,688,7,726,715,701,694,689,307],"class_list":["post-1923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-autism-spectrum","category-christianity","category-church","category-faith","category-faiths","category-hope","category-inspiration","category-intellectual-disability","category-mentally-challenged-community","category-redemption","tag-autism-spectrum","tag-christian","tag-christianity","tag-developmental-disabilities-2","tag-faiths","tag-hope","tag-inspiration","tag-intellectual-disability","tag-mentally-challenged-community","tag-squirrels"],"yoast_head":"\nPlease don't feed the animals - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/11\/please-dont-feed-the-animals.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Please don't feed the animals - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Often my neighbors and I talk about the varmints that live in our attics.\u00a0 We have tons of squirrels.\u00a0 Then there are the raccoons and opossum\u00a0which ravage our insulation with their nests and filth. Putting out traps and carrying the rascals away only means that new animals take their place.\u00a0 They rip open our soffets…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/11\/please-dont-feed-the-animals.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-11-02T05:00:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-10-26T01:34:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/specialgathering.files.wordpress.com\/2008\/03\/supersquirel.jpg?w=2\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Linda G. 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