My Mouse

What can we learn from a little mouse?  Is it possible to learn about expectations and goals?  How about respect? 

In the wee hours of the morning, Christopher, who was 3 months old awoke hungry.  I scooped him up in my arms, hugged him, and sat in the recliner to feed him.  Our home was calm and quiet with the moonlight shining through the window.  The only sound heard was Christopher swallowing his milk as fast as he could.  He was hungry!

 “What’s that?” I thought.  In the stillness I heard a whooshing and a scratching noise.  I stopped rocking and listened.  There it was again.

“Creek, step, step.” This noise was Steve, my husband, stepping into the kitchen for drink of water. 

“Steve, I heard something like whooshing and scratching over by the refrigerator.  Do you see anything?”

Steve sleepily looked around the refrigerator and opened a few cabinet doors.  “I don’t see a thing!” he said as he finished off the glass of water. 

After Steve left the room, I thought, “I just know I heard something.” The room grew silent again. 

“Scratch, scratch!” I heard it again!  Christopher drifted back to sleep.  I slowly walked back to his crib, kissed his soft little head, and laid him in the crib.  As I covered him up with the softest baby blanket, I noticed his sweet smile.  I, always, loved watching my children, but this early morning I had to find out what the noise could be.

I flipped a light on in the kitchen to begin my quest for the whoosh and scratch.  I opened every cabinet door to no avail.  I grew sleepy so I decided to catch a few more hours of sleep.

A few hours later I was in the kitchen preparing scrambled eggs, bacon, and cinnamon toast.  As I busied myself with the preparations, I was thinking about my to-do list for the day.  I opened the cabinet door at eye level in front of me to get the jar of cinnamon sugar for the toast.  With my right hand on the door handle my left hand was on the verge of picking up the jar of cinnamon sugar.  I suddenly stopped and screamed because there was a wee little mouse sitting next to the jar of cinnamon sugar in a begging position looking me straight in the eye.  Startled, I screamed, then, abruptly slammed the door.  Steve came running from the back of the house to the kitchen.

“What in the world is the matter?” asked a startled Steve.

I said, “I just saw a mouse.  The mouse was the one making all the noise last night.”

“Where is he?”

“In the cabinet he was staring at me at eyeball level!  I was not expecting it!”

                                                                                                                           

“Ha ha ha ha!”  that is funny!” laughed Steve.

“Maybe it was funny for you, but not for me!”

Again mousetrap caught the mouse.  I added to my to-do list to clean the cabinets.

When I first heard the whooshing and scratching, I thought the noise was probably a mouse.  Since I was tired, I quit searching.  I, basically, stopped expecting to find the answer. 

How often do we stop expecting things to happen in other aspects of our lives?  How many times have we given up on our goals, because there were just too many obstacles to overcome, such as being tired, being sick, hearing discouraging words from people, and so forth.  It is sad, but I meet people everyday who has no goals, dreams, or aspirations.  It is like they have given up on life.

Zig Ziglar says, “You were born to win, but to be a winner, you must plan to win, prepare to win, and expect to win.”

Another interesting aspect of this situation is not looking the mouse in the eye and slamming the door.  Steve and I have encouraged our children to look people in the eye, since it demonstrates equality, respect, interest, and appreciation.  I have spoken with people who could not look me in the eye.  It was very distracting; it showed lack of respect for themselves.

Nido Qubein, says, “Nobody on earth is more valuable than you are.  Your life is as precious to you as the greatest people’s lives have been to them.  And your estimate of your self-worth is the only estimate that counts.”

It is amazing, but we can learn a lot from a little mouse!