We have recently had a lodger with us. They have not been paying anything for the privilege, and indeed made a bit of a mess. So we had to evict them. That was easier said than done.

The lodger was a mouse. Most of the time the only evidence of his/her stay with us was the nibbling that we found. When that nibbling appeared in our daughter’s bedroom Sally decided to investigate and discovered the lodger in her wardrobe. We bought a humane trap with the aim of getting rid of the mouse away from our house, but the mouse decided it did not want to go into the trap (have they been taking lessons in trap avoidance?).

So Sally gently took out most of the contents of the bottom of the wardrobe and the mouse hid itself under the remaining box. At this point I was drafted in to help and we barricaded the mouse in with a large picture frame that we could reach over. We left the trap in there in case the mouse decided that this was the best place to go and, plastic pots in hand, removed the box to reveal the mouse.

There followed a relatively frantic game of Mousie Mousie that the mouse was winning for a while, but eventually I caught it under my pot. The problem was that we had not thought about what to do when we caught the mouse. It was clear he/she was not going to sit quietly in the pot if we turned it the right way up, and there was no way I was going to put my hand in there. Eventually we found a plastic clip board and I gently slid that under the pot and the mouse and, clamping it firmly, got into the car.

Sally drove the three of us to a nearby nature reserve where I carried out a mini re-enactment of the scene at the end of Born Free where Elsa the Lion is released into the wildlife park. There was no touching moment when the mouse looked back at us, it simply fled as fast as its little legs could carry it. I hope it takes the hint and does not try to come back.

So, I hear you think (yes, I know what you are thinking, bwah hah hah haaah), what is the lesson we are supposed to learn from this episode?

Good question. If I am totally honest, right now as I type I am not sure.

[reflects]

Lesson the first – if there is something in our life that shouldn’t be there we should do all we can to get rid of it. Pray, act, change behaviour, ask for help, don’t give up.

Lesson the second – in a grace-rich environment (see yesterday’s bloggage) compassion should extend even to those who cause us harm.

Lesson the third – sometimes people aren’t aware that you are trying to help them and may do all they can to avoid the help. But that does not mean we should not persevere.

Lesson the fourth – you never know when the skills you learn in playing children’s games will come in handy.

Be blessed, be a blessing.