So…we have mice that enter our cellar area from some of the ancient pathways known only to myriads of generations of mice that have tried to dwell in our cellar since the house was built around 1890.
Each year as the weather snaps in Autumn and the little furry creatures seek warmth (and any possible food options we may have provided them accidentally) in our cellar, we have to resort to the Annual Mouse Buffet. It’s not your normal buffet, though! Our buffet consists of peanut butter wiped intentionally on a mouse trap in various strategic locations around the cellar.
This year we had some persistent…possibly labeled “uncooperative”…customers to the Mouse Buffet. While the furballs frequented a particular set of mouse traps (yes, I said “traps”…plural), there were many occasions where the mice would successfully remove all the peanut butter without setting off the trap. Folks, it was crazy…especially considering that I had strategically located bits of peanut butter all over the trap so any number of licks could/would undoubtedly trigger the trap. I even resorted to staggering 2 traps next to each other–as well as placing the traps half off the edge of the table area that they seemed to frequent–in an effort to catch them losing their balance. Sometimes, within a couple of hours, the peanut butter was already gone—licked clean…but no mouse was caught!
Well, as the story goes, some nights were successful…others not so much. And of course, the operating hours of the Mouse Buffet extend from mid-October to mid-March. Eventually, among daily checks of the traps, I began to consistently find a mouse trap that had flipped off the table with a mouse in it. (Yea for the “half off the table” idea…).
And then there was the morning where I checked the traps only to find one of the traps licked clean…and one of the traps MISSING. Seriously??? Had they had enough? Was this a coup? Honestly, I figured my initial quick search could be followed later by a more thorough search where I would surely find the trap and the mouse (or at least smell it a couple days later).
Ummm…it’s been a month…and nothing…no evidence of a dead mouse, the missing trap, no smell…Nothing! This led me to begin to picture the places a mouse could possibly travel dragging a trap attached to its leg. Doesn’t seem like there’d be very many options…but apparently it’s easier (or more possible) than I would think….
So, where’s the trap?
I often make parallels to something I have experienced and this was no exception. I began to think a little deeper about the analogy of the situation… A trap…
What is it that has me trapped?
What is it that I might be unnecessarily dragging around daily?
What is it that I have frequented for so long that now it’s become a part of me…attached in some way?
Or…What’s attached to me that I’m trying to get rid of…unsuccessfully?
These are some interesting questions to ponder for a few moments. Because without realizing it, we are all trapped by something. We have all frequented something that has become a greater part of us…either for the better or for the worse. Work can trap us, exercise can trap us, being busy can trap us, money can trap us, eating can trap us, gaining knowledge or experience can trap us, anxiety or stress can trap us, fear can trap us.
The better question, I guess, becomes…is the trap a good fit? When I picture a mouse trying to get through a hole in our cellar with a large mouse trap attached to a leg or a tail, I realize just how crazy I probably look at times trying to make something fit that just isn’t meant to fit. Forcing square shapes into circular holes has never worked easily or well.
So why does it seem to take us so long to realize we’re dragging something around that just isn’t working? Why can’t we see it? Why can’t we feel it? Why don’t we change it even when we begin to notice it?
Can it be that we could actually learn something from a mouse? Could it be that some mice have mastered the idea of balance better than we have? I mean…clearly some of the mice in our cellar know how to eat at the Mouse Trap Buffet but not “overindulge” to the point of death. They know how to eat up the good stuff without becoming stuck in a trap. They seem to repeatedly be able to teeter perfectly between “just enough” and “I can come back for more”. How is it that a mouse could manage this balance better than I can as a human…who has a much greater thinking capacity than a mouse?
Maybe it’s because it is just so much more simple than what I make it. Maybe I strive to be the best, to receive the credit, to have it all, to be well-liked…only to be trapped into trying to be something I’m not. If I would just stop contentedly with what comes naturally rather than trying to “overindulge” my fantastical wishes, could I be satisfied and be at peace…and walk away from the trap without losing my life?
I think these mice might be on to something.
Hebrews 12:1
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith,
let us strip off every weight that slows us down,
especially the sin that so easily trips us up.
And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.