I just love this time of year. The leaves are changing colors, boots are back in season, and pumpkin flavored everything is available wherever you go. Now, I don’t know where you all live, but temperatures are beginning to drop in Connecticut. With that, we need to prepare ourselves for the special guests that visit us during the colder months. That is my nice way of saying that we need to get the mouse traps out. (Before I go any further, I once again need to apologize to my animal loving friends for the story to follow.)
Every winter, my husband sets up a few traps in the basement with a little spoonful of peanut butter on it to lure any mice in. Well, a few winters ago, the one where we all learned what a roof rake was for the first time, we experienced something like never before. Each day, I’d be upstairs in my kitchen, and I’d hear a loud snap, realizing that another mouse had seen its last day.
My husband, who of course was responsible for clearing the traps and resetting them, would come up each night and say, “I got one more.” It was disturbing, to say the least. The mouse death toll was rising with each passing day. I often wondered where all these mice were coming from. It was like Mouseapalooza was taking place right in my very own basement!
As troubling as this influx of mice was, it didn’t seem to bother me too much because they were in the basement, and I didn’t go down there very often. Then, one day, things changed.
I was vacuuming in my family room when I noticed little deposits of mouse droppings near the wall. I, of course, FREAKED out. The mice were no longer just in my basement; they had entered our living space. How could they get upstairs?
Totally disgusted, I immediately went on a mouse hunt, trying to determine the method of entry. Nothing jumped right out at me. But, then, my eyes were directed to a tiny hole not much bigger than the size of a dime located behind our television console. We drilled a tiny whole there to run wires from the basement to the television. I thought to myself, “there is no way a mouse could fit through that tiny little hole.”
Well, I was wrong. After further investigation, I found a “not successful” mouse attached to one of the wires right below the hole. This particular mouse was obviously not too bright and decided to snack on one of the electrical wires. Zap!
Some of you just stopped reading, and yet others are interested to see where in the world I am going with this. Well, for those you who are still with me, did you know that mice could morph their bodies into the oddest shapes and fit through the smallest of openings? Did you also know that the devil is very much like mice? Like a mouse, the devil just needs the smallest opening to enter into our lives and cause a lot of trouble.
Do not give the devil a foothold – Ephesians 4:27
The word foothold simply means opportunity. We do not want to give the enemy an opportunity, or access, into our lives. We have to be very careful not to give him an opening, even if it is small, to enter in.
So what are these open doors? Sin is definitely a big one, but we also need to be mindful of other ways of entry. What are you watching on television? Are your conversations with friends uplifting and encouraging, or are they full of gossip and complaining? What are you looking at on the Internet?
Ladies, we need to constantly be examining our lives, making sure that there is no point of entry. The devil is real, and he would love nothing more than to gain access to our lives. Fear, marital stress, financial hardship, and sickness are just a few of the ways he can attack. Seasons are changing. It is time to set out the traps!
Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. – 1 Peter 5:8
