Into each life a mouse shall come. One Sunday morning during the holidays, Dorothy reported that she had startled a mouse in our pantry. Sunday morning before church is not a good time for a mouse hunt. I told her the mouse would be fine and that we would take care of it after lunch. We mentioned the mouse at lunch and one of our daughters asked if we would be using a non-lethal mousetrap. She offered us one of her slightly used humane traps. After a couple of days, I noticed the bait was missing but no mouse was trapped inside. We tried again with the same result. The little spring door on the trap was broken. Time for more severe action. Two traps were set. It took a few more days for the mouse to meet a sudden end. We moved on with life, keeping a trap set.
Into each life another mouse shall come. It has been very cold of late. While working at the kitchen counter one evening, I thought I saw a flash of silver. I looked in the pantry, everything looked fine. I set another trap, this time with a raisin. When I checked the next morning, the raisin had been moved out of the trap. I set the trap with some smelly cheese. That worked. I thought it might be time to clean out the pantry. It is amazing what can be stored in a pantry, just in case it might be useful, maybe, one day. We cleaned the floor and the first shelf then half of the second. We saw why the mouse did not need to venture far. One shelf contained an empty mouse-eaten bag of cholate chips, and a partially eaten bag of other stuff. A trip to the store for fancy containers ensued. All was well again.
Into each life still another mouse shall come. A few more days passed before I saw an empty bag of crackers and debris on the pantry floor. It had fallen from the half-cleaned shelf. Time for another deeper cleaning—all the way up to the top, new shelf paper, restocking the pantry, and more cheese. Stuff dating to 2006 tossed away, and 30 big and little glass jars recycled. Two more traps were set. One more mouse passed over the rainbow bridge, or wherever. Pantry tours are now available at a very reasonable price.
Keep healthy. Pray mightily. Enjoy your life today. Watch for mice. And let’s experience the love and power of God together.
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