I have a mouse in the house.

When you live in a rural setting in an old house, a mouse is a common house guest. I do all in my power to make the house unattractive to mice. I have a professional who comes monthly and makes the house uninviting to rodents. However, with a bathroom remodel going on, there have been ample opportunities to allow a mouse into the house.

I saw the mouse this morning. He looks to be well fed and happy. He was running the baseboards in the family room. I didn’t panic. I didn’t call the dogs. I got up and opened the backdoor. The mouse was headed toward the back door. I was going to hasten his exit from the living area. I was distracting the dogs as I watched the mouse head for the opened door.

Alas, the mouse and the dogs discovered each other, and the race was on. Funny thing about my dogs, they have little respect for the delicate arrangement of the furniture. Their only goal was that mouse. The mouse made a strategic error and ran down the hallway in the opposite direction. I’m not sure where the mouse ended up.

I know that when I go home this afternoon two things will be true. I will see the mouse again. I will see rearranged furniture as evidence of the canine rodent wars.

I’m pulling for the mouse!

I considered all options. I could call in the professional exterminators. I could bring a kitten into the house. The kitten would become a cat who would chase the mouse. The dogs would chase both the cat and the mouse and furniture would never be the same. My morning office musing was a consideration of making food and water available for the mouse.

Once, when the kids were young, we had gerbils. They made babies about once a month! The kids and I would go to the woods around the Mount Mariah Methodist Church and set the baby gerbils free. I’m sure I have some gerbil houses and food dishes some place. For all I know, this mouse is several generations removed from those gerbils! I’m secretly rooting for the mouse, although I’m sure the dogs will take care of the matter.

I hope the mouse did not upset you. Here is what I want you to ponder. I’ll put it this way, I’m not responsible for the mouse being in the house, I am responsible for my reaction to the mouse being in the house.

When things happen to you, how do you respond?

That thing that just happened to you, is it a trial, a temptation, or a test? In the New Testament the same Greek word is translated all three ways. You see, the thing happening to you is often not your responsibility, but your reaction to event is your responsibility.

Is faith in Christ your default setting when there is a mouse in the house or when stuff happens to you?