A lesson in being Molly

We had to say good-bye to our pet rat, Molly, about a week ago.

She had come to us in an unusual, and unexpected, way. At my work, we had rats for a couple of years, but as they died, we were having trouble replacing them, because no local pet shops sold rats anymore.

We had one rat left, and she was only a couple of months old. So the question became, what do we do with her?

One male co-worker said, "Feed her to the snakes."

Another said, "Let her go in the prairie."

I grabbed my chest, horrified. "No! I will take her home with me."

I quickly texted my husband, to make sure that was OK, and he reluctantly agreed.

Almost two years later, Molly had become a beloved pet. We spent time with her at night, letting her run around, feeding her treats, watching her share a Nylabone with Novie, giggling as she drank out of Novie's dog bowl and clicking to her and seeing her run toward us to answer our call.

Like many rats, though, she started to grow cysts. They quickly expanded, and within two weeks she could barely walk and couldn't hold her food in her little hands without tipping over. It was heart-wrenching to watch, so Nate had to put her down. Her quality of life was gone.

It was sad to clean up her area and to dismantle her cage.

To so many people, rats are gross, even domesticated rats. The typical reaction when people found out that we had a pet rat was shock, mild disgust or at least a questioning look. We knew people thought we were weird.

But to us, that gross animal was adorable. We knew her, and she loved treats, people, scratches and exploring. She was a better listener than our dog and was a pleasure to have as a pet. She just loved.

We were so much bigger than her --- she only weighed a few ounces. Yet, she trusted us completely. She would crawl into our hands when we opened her cage, because she knew that we were going to let her play and bring her goodies. She didn't care realize that she was so small and insignificant, she knew she was loved.

I think that's kind of like our relationship with God. We are flawed beings, so icky that we shouldn't be loved. We make messes. We're so small. We're truly insignificant in time.

Yet, God loves us. He cares about us. He blesses us. He picks us up, wraps his arms around us and showers us with undeserved love. He picks us to cherish, even though we don't deserve it.

We loved Molly for reasons not apparent to others. God loves us for reasons that aren't understandable.

But she was thankful for love. And we're thankful for love.

Small, insignificant and treasured. Just like a little rat.