There's A Mouse In Our House!

One of the botherations of owing a house that is 105 years old is that occasionally, every few years or so, you will get a mouse that has made its way into our home. On a good year, you will only get one mouse. On a not-so-good-year you may get a mouse that appears to be single (and may very well be) but is actually carrying with her several other mice because she is pregnant.

 

When we had cats as pets, the problem was solved because cats seem to like to catch mice. We are currently cat-less and so even one mouse is a cause for concern.

 

This winter one small mouse made its way into our home. When we first saw signs (droppings) we struck first by doing all of the right things such as making sure that we left no food out including bread and butter. Little did we know that this war would last for at least two months before we caught him (or her)!

 

We set out several different types of “humane” traps; which meant the goal was to catch the mouse alive so that we could release the mouse outdoors. But, nothing worked, so we went to the local hardware store and picked up the next level of traps which meant we spent much more money than one should spend for a mouse trap.

 

But, nothing worked, so once again we went to the local hardware store and picked up the next level of traps including snap and glue traps, all which showed pictures of captured mice on the box.

 

Again nothing worked, so we once again went to the local hardware store and picked up the next level of traps including poison and some food items that claimed that they would kill the mice and even showed pictures of dead mice on the box.

 

With no success, we decided to do what all great optimists do, we pretended that somehow the mouse just went away…that is until one night at our home Bible Study someone exclaimed; “Hey, I just saw a mouse in your dining room!”


We did everything we should do, as best we could, but there was still a mouse in our house! Our efforts --even though we did the right things--were not enough.


With no more ideas left to pursue we decided to ask God for His help; we needed to be shown a new plan; and, within a short period of time, the idea came to us how to build a better mouse trap.

 

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart,

And lean not on your own understanding;

In all your ways acknowledge Him,

And He shall direct your paths.” (Proverbs 3:5-6)

 

Cathy got the idea to take a shallow box and place inside of it a slipper (which the mouse had been chewing on) and one of EVERY type of mouse trap that we had in our possession. “Certainly this has to work!” she said as she placed her better mouse trap in the living room as we went to bed one night.

 

“This also comes from the Lord of hosts, Who is wonderful in counsel and excellent in guidance.” (Isaiah 28:29)

 

In the morning, much to her surprise, the mouse was captured, the war was over and we had won! (If you want, for a small price, I will tell you which of the traps worked).

 

As Cathy was cleaning up her home made contraption, she realized that even though this seemed insignificant compared to eternity, this was not outside of the realm of the love of God to us.

 

He truly cares about the big issues when we need a miraculous deliverance.

 

And, He cares about the little things that pesters and bothers us as well.

 

“Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help,

Whose hope is in the Lord his God” (Psalm 146:5)

 
Now if I could just figure out how to deal with the occasional elephant in the room...

All Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.