Our daughter had come over for dinner after she got off work. I was in the kitchen getting dinner started when I noticed, out of the corner of my eye, movement down at the garbage can … a swift crossing of a little mouse from the garbage can over to underneath the dishwasher.
A mouse?!?
We have a mouse in the house?!?
We live in the forest, but in all the years we’ve lived here we’ve not once had a mouse in the house. Ever!
How did a mouse get in the house?!?
Aahhhh … it was the night before … when the power was out.
The power was out and it was dark and cold. So I had stared a fire in the fireplace. As per the usual, I had opened the back door a small crack to create a draft up the flu as I was starting the fire, so that the smoke would draft up the chimney. I usually only leave the back door open just a few minutes. And never before has it caused any problem.
But this time the house was very dark! (because the power was out)
And it was fall … meaning, the leaves were starting to fall from the trees, and a pile of leaves had accumulated back behind the woodbox on the back deck (which sits right next to the back door).
And because it was fall … little forest creatures were seeking warmth and shelter for the winter.
Most likely the little mouse had been in the pile of leaves back behind the woodbox … and when the door was opened a crack, and under the cover of darkness, the little mouse slipped through the magnetic screen and came right on in.
I studied the baseboard all along my kitchen. Where did that mouse go??
It didn’t take long to find out. My daughter, hanging out in the living room, suddenly squealed and climbed up on the arm of the couch! Evidently the little mouse was sauntering pretty-as-you-please across the living room carpet.
I headed over towards the living room just as the little mouse came around the corner where I was. It sauntered pretty-as-you-please across the entire length of my dining room … with me trailing right along behind it. It obviously had no idea the danger it was in!
The little mouse turned the corner and headed towards the front door. I totally would have opened the front door and let it out. But at the last minute it deviated course and disappeared underneath the door of the coat closet.
Ah Ha! It’s trapped now!
It “just so happened” that when my daughter was at work that day a large box had been delivered containing a new garbage can. The box was so nice and big that my daughter thought we might be able to use it somehow. So, she had rescued it from being recycled and had brought it home.
Lesson: God knows what you need before you even know you need it! And God provides what you need, exactly when you need it!
This large empty box was now sitting in my living room … just the thing I needed to keep the mouse from escaping out of the coat closet and disappearing into the rest of my house!
Voila! Here you can see the large empty box set up to keep the mouse from getting out of the coat closet.
Who has large empty boxes like this just sitting around their living room?? We certainly never do. But when we really needed one … there it was!
As you can see in the photo, the coat closet is right next to the stairs. Because of this, the closet has a crawl-space which goes way back in there underneath the stairs. We have storage containers with the kids’ keepsakes stacked back in there. It’s a perfect place for a little mouse to “disappear” and hang out for a while.
Any other time during the day I would have gone and gotten the mouse trap myself. But since it was dinner time, and hubby was due to walk in the door any minute, I just waited to let hubby get the mousetrap. Sure enough, just a few minutes later hubby walked in the door from work.
The little mouse still had no idea the danger it was in!
I took up my post right next to the coat closet, now blocked off by the large empty box, and watched as the little mouse pitter-pattered about in curiosity. It pitter-pattered into the sideways empty box … examining to see if there were any gaps through which it could get out. It pitter-pattered calmly and completely unphased by the fact that I was standing right there over it, watching it the whole time.
The little mouse had no idea the danger it was in!
By now hubby had gotten the mouse trap and had loaded it up with peanut butter. Carefully hubby reached over and set the peanut-butter laden mousetrap right there in the open space.
I was supposed to be fixing dinner. But I couldn’t pull myself away. I was so curious to see what would happen!
The little mouse was likewise curious as well. It pitter-pattered out from the back of the closet (which extended underneath the stairs) and snooped around the mouse trap. It scrambled up and all over the mouse trap, investigating the peanut butter. But the mouse trap didn’t go off!
The peanut butter we have in our house is the organic kind which must be kept in the refrigerator. So, the peanut butter was still cold and hard. The little mouse tried to take a nibble, perched right there atop the mousetrap, but the peanut butter was still too hard. It needed some time to soften.
The little mouse returned to pitter-pattering here and there … doing another inspection of the inside of the sideways empty box.
Obviously the trap wasn’t set to “super sensitivity.” I didn’t know you could adjust such things on mousetraps. Hubby retrieved the mousetrap and adjusted the “sensitivity” of it so that it would go off easier.
Carefully hubby re-placed the mousetrap.
It was dinnertime and we were all hungry. So, I left my post in the front entranceway and went to finish up dinner. Every now and then I would go check on the mousetrap. The little mouse continued to pitter-patter about … completely unaware of how much danger it was in.
After all, it had only ever lived out in the forest. What was there to be concerned about in this nice warm space … where delicious peanut butter is right there available for the eating??
Hubby and I and our daughter sat down to have dinner together. We had only taken a few bites when … “SNAP!”
The poor little mouse.
I almost didn’t want to go look.
If it would have let me, I totally would have opened the front door and let it go out. It had come into a place where it didn’t belong. Under the cover of darkness. When the power was out.
And it wound up being its destruction.
This exact same thing can happen in life to each of us! Just like the little mouse, we are living our life on a normal ordinary day … when Satan opens up a door of temptation for us. It seems so inviting. No one will see. We can slip through the door of temptation under the cover of darkness.
And so, like the little mouse slipping into my house under the cover of darkness, when the power was out … so too, we likewise slip into a place where we don’t belong, under the cover of darkness, when “the power is out” (so to speak). “The power being out” is like the power of the Holy Spirit being quenched in our soul. We’ve ignored and quenched the Holy Spirit to the point that we no longer have his power at work in our life.
And we wind up in a place where we don’t belong!
The thing is, we are just like the little mouse which had no idea the danger it was in. So also, we too have no idea the danger we are in! Just like the little mouse, we likewise saunter (so to speak) all throughout the place where we don’t belong. We get comfortable in this place we don’t belong.
We have no idea the danger we are in!
The place where we don’t belong is warm and inviting. It has things which are exciting for us … just like the tasty peanut butter for the little mouse. And just like the little mouse, we clamber all over the “peanut butter” which is right there … the very things we will enjoy most! Completely unaware that there is danger in this place!
The trap doesn’t spring right away.
We clamber all over the “peanut butter” and nothing bad happens. We assume everything must be ok.
But eventually … “SNAP!”
Satan opened up the door of temptation. And we walked right through, under the cover of darkness, when the “power was out” … into a place where we don’t belong!
And in the end, it winds up being “the death of us.”
The “death” of our marriage.
The “death” of relationships.
The “death” of trust.
The “death” of opportunities.
The “death” of our future.
etc. etc. etc. …
“Do not be deceived. God will not be mocked; for whatever a person sows, that they will also reap. The person who sows to please their sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction.” – Galatians 6:7-8
“But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. God will give to each person according to what they have done.” – Romans 2:5-6
“Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith.” – 1 Peter 5:8-9
