a mouse in the house

A few nights ago, all was quiet. Adam was at a meeting, the boys were tucked in bed and it was finally time for me to sit down and read. With my book in my hand, a bowl of ice cream on the table, and a cozy blanket wrapped around me, I looked around and felt a smile spread over my face.
All of a sudden...SNAP. I tell you, I jumped. The book went flying and my heart did a few somersaults of it's own. A rotten mouse. They have been invading my kitchen all winter long. I do not need to write about  the mess that they make and what they manage to chew apart. They are my enemies. I picture myself opening the cupboard and the mouse jumping out at me with mighty mouse strength and it  plastering itself to my face.This has been the worse year yet for mice in our house. I could not understand their invasion because we had a cat, but it all began to make sense when I was at our neighbours house- my parents.
Our cat was also visiting there when my mom spotted our cat looking at her through the patio doors and said " That cat needs some food." "Oh, no it doesn't. It needs to catch mice." I replied. My mom whipped open the fridge and out came a chunk of cheese. "Mom - that cat does not need $5.00 worth of cheese." I insisted. But the cheese wasn't enough for the cat. My mom poured a bowl full of cream and then microwaved it to make it nice and warm for our cat. We have not seen our cat since.
Anyways, back to last night. After I heard the mouse trap snap I waited a second and then horror of horrors, I could hear the mouse whimper in the cupboard. Instantly it started to thrash around dragging the big mouse trap with it. The mouse was going bazerko. I did what any normal adult woman would do. I called my dad in a panic.
The conversation went like this: " Dad you need to come over right now. I got this live mouse thrashing around in my kitchen and it is just terrible. I cannot handle this at all dad. Adam's not home and I really need you to come over right now. I will wait outside for you. " A few moments later my super dad is over and the mouse is taken out to the back field. It had one paw stuck in the trap.
After all of the excitement I settle back down on the couch with my book on my lap and I stared at my melted ice cream.
Sin lures us just like the mouse is lured to the trap. We convince ourselves that holding that little grudge, or speaking an unkind word, unthankfulness, or that "at least I don't do this" thought is just a quick small area of our lives. We dismiss these sins because we are working really hard in other areas of our lives. (Let's be honest; the things that we think we are working hard on tend to come more easily to us. Are we really working hard at all of the "small" things?) And just as a mouse thinks that it will quickly grab some of the peanut butter, we allow ourselves to be lured into these sins because it is just a quick passing thought. We deceive ourselves when we believe that God doesn't care about the "small stuff." And then snap - God reveals His holiness to us and that quick thought that we had stares at us with big blackness. What a Holy God.
But unlike my dad who dropped off the wounded mouse in the back field left to fend to itself, God takes our hurts and our guilt and tenderly points us to His Son. What a Gracious God.