A mystery entered our homeschool world recently. Data collected. Hypothesis tested. Conclusion formulated. The unofficial, unscientific result? A homeschooled hamster is eerily intelligent.
It was a simple afternoon. Mozart in the background. Tea cakes decorated with five types of frosting. Calculus equations solved on the whiteboard. Oops. Sorry. My imagination getting the best of me. Let’s try again.
It was a simple afternoon. Dishes piled high. Math homework hidden under the couch. The sound of the dryer chugging along to its own musical rhythm. A piercing scream penetrating the air.
How a 3rd grader can produce such a piercing frequency in volume astounds me. One would have thought the world was near its end. Fortunately, our fate was less precarious. A rebellious hamster and her nefarious ways would plunge us to the precipice of “gee”, “really”, “you’ve got to me kidding me”.
Running headfirst into the danger zone. I surmised we were not plunging to our doom. My daughter held up a tattered bag of empty hamster treats with suspicious teeth marks all over the bag. She pointed to a trail of bag pieces leading across the room and ending directly in front of a hamster cage. I surveyed the room and noticed the carpet looked like it had been gnawed- with hamster teeth.
I searched for the escapee. Drama of an escaped hamster can be high. My search rapidly ceased as my eye caught the mischievous furball sleeping contently at the top of her cage. Double take. Triple take. All evidence indicated an escape. The hamster should not be looking at me as if to smile.
Investigative mode plunged us down a path of surprises. We found the missing treats. We found them in the cage. We discovered a hoarding hamster. My mind flashed back to the previous day. The top of the cage with a door ajar. Panic followed by calm as I noticed the little critter sound asleep. Just an isolated event I told myself, move on. Wrong.
As it turned out our homeschooled hamster had been escaping each night, grabbing sweet treats and returning home as if Nothing. Ever. Happened. The path it had to take for such an adventure puzzled us. How? We can only conclude that our lessons in mathematics, logic and reading have impacted more than a 3rd grader. The hamster was listening also.
Bizarre.
As I stand befuzzled at the hamster I reflect upon its antics. Escaping. Grabbing the best the world has to offer. Returning to the cage. Why return? I’d hit the door running and buy a bus ticket to the next hamster town. Then it hit me. Don’t we do the same sometimes? God offers us a blessing, we pursue it only to hide it in the recesses of a cage. He opens the door to freedom while we stockpile and fear the light. He says, “Go!” and we cower in the corner nibbling on what the world has to offer.
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Romans 12:2 (KJV)
We are not hamsters. We are not to become comfortable in our cage, but to look through the keyhole with a renewed mind.
Don’t merely look. Be brave. Escape. God has already opened the door. He personally inserted the key, opened the lock and offers His hand. Walk boldly out, look upon the light, proclaim your freedom.
Let the hamster have her treats. You have a new world to explore.