I answered my phone immediately when I saw that it was my daughter calling, who was 36 weeks pregnant. “I’m not in labor,” she reassured me after I answered with a question in my ‘hello’. However, she proceeded to tell me she was on a 45-minute drive to the wildlife rescue center to drop off a creature she’d rescued… a bat. “A bat?” I asked begging for an explanation.

As she and her husband were moving items into their nursery, she noticed a little bat sticking out from under the corner of the rug. Are you kidding me? She said she thought he was dead until he moved his head. Eek!

“What did you do?” I asked.

“Nothing!” She said, “I’m 36 weeks pregnant and couldn’t risk getting bitten!” Smart lady. So, she recruited her husband. That is some great teamwork. He gloved up and swept it into a bucket. Now she was on her way to deliver it to the wildlife rescue center. When asked why they didn’t just shoo it out the door, she reminded me it was like 7 degrees outside there in Kansas City, and he would die. “They can’t survive in less than 45 degrees,” she told me. So, here she was on her one day off, driving this little rascal of a bat to a wildlife rescue center 45 minutes away so that he might live. The Wildlife rescue center agreed to keep him until April when it was warm enough to release him. Who knew they would care for a bat?

I was blown away. If that little critter had wandered into any other house to try and get warm, he might not have wound up so lucky. Those little beasts give me the willies even when I see them drifting around in the summer at night. Bats are creepy, scary, and evil-looking. In fact, in my mind those rascals fit into the same category as snakes, and lizards, and mice as creatures I DO NOT want to find in my house. And here she was treating it like it was a lost puppy or kitten. This was such an act of love… for a BAT! She was treating it as one of God’s beloved creations and giving it every opportunity to live and fulfill his purpose in life, whatever that might be. She was loving well.

As we approach Valentine’s Day and the season of love, I think it’s important that we dwell on love and what love looks like. Love can take on many appearances. It can be paying for someone’s order in a drive-thru, listening when a friend needs to chat, cleaning the house to surprise your spouse. I remember when my kids were little, my younger daughter got on her hands and knees so her older sister could stand on her back and reach the water fountain. Loving well.

What other acts have you noticed of others loving well? What ways have your children shown love? Have you seen strangers showing love? I think we can learn from each other and each other’s experiences so that we may each love better. Share your observations of acts of love below! May we all learn to love each other and God’s creation well especially during this season of love.

(If you’d like a book to share with your children on how to love well, may I suggest – Love Well, My Precious One. Click on the book.)