by Dana Taylor

My Facebook feed has a lot of Lyme disease stories nowadays. Whenever I visit my family in Missouri, we do a tick search everyday on the children. I’ve picked up a few myself. Being raised in California, I’d never seen a tick until I married an Oklahoman and moved to Oklahoma City. Here’s a story of my early tick encounter that might inspire and amuse.

The year was 1983. Our family moved into a new rent house in Edmond, Oklahoma, that had a nice back yard. With a dog, a cat, a four-old-daughter and a 9 month-old  baby, it seemed like a good location. When the temperatures rose, I noticed something strange. One day after being outside there were creepy, reddish bugs crawling inside my baby’s diaper. The next day the dog had swollen things hanging off of her. When my husband came home from work, I had him examine the dog. 

“What is that?” I asked.

He dug through the dog’s fur and grumbled, “Ticks.”

It took a moment to register. “Ticks?…TICKS! The yard is full of ticks??!! What do we do?”

He shrugged. “Call the landlord, I guess, and ask him to spray the yard. Better keep the kids inside for a while.” 

So much for having a nice yard to play in. If a call was made to the landlord, I don’t remember, but no one took any action. I tick powdered the dog (no Advantage in those days), pulled off ticks, banished the cat, kept the kids inside and got progressively more frustrated.

Those were my early days of exploring the power of prayer. I was learning to take concerns to the Divine for help. Eventually, I asked about the darn ticks. As synchronicity would have it, I read a book about the early Mormons settling in Utah. One story jumped out at me. In 1848 the settlers planted crops, only to have swarms of what came to be called “Mormon crickets” feast upon their growing stalks and decimate the plants. The people tried stomping and beating the bugs, but were far out numbered. In desperation, the farmers and their families prayed for Divine help. June 9, 1848 is designated as The Miracle of the Gulls. Hundreds of seagulls flew in from the Great Salt Lake and descended upon the insects. The Mormons gave God the credit for sending all the birds to eat the bugs and save their crops. The California gull is the Utah State bird and a monument stands to commemorate the miracle.

I decided to pray for a little miracle of my own. I didn’t really want pounds of poison spread all over my yard, killing every good insect and possibly making us all sick. If the Mormons could call in legions of seagulls in huge fields, maybe I could attract a few robins, cardinals, and sparrows in one backyard. I began visualization. I’d stare at the yard, picturing birds walking in the grass, pecking at all those ticks. I mentally invited birds over to our house. Come here, birdies. And guess what…they came! First a few, and then more and more. Every time I glanced out the window, feathered friends were cleaning the yard. After a couple of weeks, the dog came in tick free and we began playing outside again. 

It was a wonderful lesson in prayer, visualization, and manifestation. The Law of Attraction is real. It’s important to remember, we attract what we’re visualizing–even if we don’t want it. As far as ticks and Lyme disease goes, I visualize a shield of protective energy around my family.

If a tick is discovered, we immediately apply Purification Young Living essential oil to the bite site and on the bottom of the feet. Actually, daily application of Purification strengthens the immune system and acts as an insect repellant.

This week I saw this meme about the benefits of opossums controlling the tick population. Maybe this summer I will visualize and invite more opossums to the property. I can see it now, The Miracle of the Opossums….

Have a great day–

Dana Taylor