Our lawn looks like a battlefield upon which someone lobbed a hundred itty-bitty hand grenades. And amongst all those holes and divots are yards and yards of itty-bitty tunnels, spider-webbing through our Bermuda grass like varicose veins.
We’ve yet to catch them in the act, but we do know who’s responsible for this destructive madness and it has certainly left me feeling less than warm and fuzzy about certain wildlife with whom we share our land. Yes, you deer, moles and armadillos, I’m talkin’ to you.
These destructive critters don’t seem to understand that we’ve given them 74 acres to freely romp upon and all we ask in return is for them to stay off the half-acre around our house. I waited many years to have a relatively nice lawn and I’m not about to let these varmints paw, scrape, dig and burrow it into ugliness.
This fall, the animals in our neck of the woods have grown so brazen that pretty soon they’ll probably be lounging on our porch swing and knocking on our door to ask for a glass of tea.
We’ve certainly had our share of minor skirmishes with moles and deer in the past, but nothing like our current battle. And we’ve never had reason, until now, to suspect that armadillos had joined the fray.
Well, the armadillo thing is just a hypothesis. We haven’t actually seen a “possum on a half-shell” on our property. But my husband was recently talking to one of our sons, who regularly astounds us with nuggets of bizarre trivia, and it turns out he knows quite a bit about armadillos. His description of their destructive habits definitely matches what has been done to our lawn.
I had no idea all this was going on in our yard at night. It must be like a three-ring circus out there. The other night I was up at 4 a.m. and the moon was so bright I thought I might be able to look out the window and witness the perps doing their dastardly deeds. But alas, our lawn was a picture of serenity with nary a critter in sight. Lucky for them because I was fully prepared to pour out my wrath and instill a bit of healthy fear in their varmint hearts.
We suspect the drought conditions during the late summer and early fall months likely brought these blighters into our yard. They left the dry pastures and woods to dine on our well-watered turf. It ticks me off, but I do get it.
Seems all creatures, including humans, are constantly searching for greener grass. Sometimes that’s okay, but not when that grass belongs to someone else or has been declared off limits by a higher authority.
God has given us loving boundaries and we cross His lines at our own peril. Oh, we may temporarily get by with it and even enjoy those transgressions for a while. The Bible is an honest book and tells us sin can be enjoyable for a season (Hebrews 11:25). (If it weren’t, who’d be tempted to sin?) But when the “passing pleasures of sin” inevitably pass, look out—misery awaits.
“The way of the transgressor is hard,” the Bible warns (Proverbs 13:15). I don’t know about you, but I don’t like “hard.”
I’ve lived long enough to know this: the best, greenest, juiciest grass is definitely found inside God’s will for us. He’s generously given us many things to enjoy and posts “no trespassing” signs only to keep us from destroying ourselves.
Adam and Eve certainly learned that truth the hard way. Going after the one thing they couldn’t have cost them paradise.
And if I have my way, some deer, moles and armadillos around here are gonna learn that same painful lesson.