The Uninvited Visitor – Devotion 210 – SEEING THE EXTRAORDINARY

Perfectly laid plans do not always come to life as we would hope. That became quite tangible last night. I went to bed as usual, but something wasn’t quite right. Leo seemed to be disturbed by something. As it turns out, we had an unwanted visitor. Yesterday, I had to make several trips from the garage to the house. So I made it easy on myself and left the door open to the garage. Since I was moving most of it myself, this kept me from trying to open and close doors constantly with arms that were occupied with stuff. That part went fine. The part I wasn’t counting on was that this would open the doors to visitors I had not invited. In this case, it was a mouse.

Most, if not all, of us have dealt with having a mouse in the house. What we haven’t dealt with before is having Leo in the house with a mouse. That is a combination which was new and it wasn’t good. It turns out, Leo is afraid of mice. Yes, a large dog is afraid of a tiny mouse. You can see why this would not go well. He goes around the house barking. A single annoying bark endlessly repeated so that everyone (and I do mean everyone in the house) knows there is a mouse. Then he crawls up as close to you as physically possible while you ‘get it’. During the daytime, this might pose a cute picture. At night, this is a frustrating array of chaos that takes away any rhythm of normal or rest. Leo climbed all over my head and the nightstand. He needed someone to get the mouse and he was not going to rest until someone did. And since these things are not that easily resolved, it just continued on and on and on. I dealt with it as long as I could. So finally, I chose to go lay on the couch. I don’t get a lot of rest, so sleep is valuable to me.

While I opted for the couch, I just knew Leo would choose the bed where he could snuggle up next to Wendy. Again, I miscalculated what would happen. He decided the couch was the best – with me. So here we were, wrapped up together on the couch, fighting his mouse fears and hoping for some sleep. Leo was so close, his breath almost became one with mine. I am not much for this close contact. But if it meant rest, whatever. And so we rested – too close for me to even move – but we still rested.

Things just don’t always turn out as we plan. Unexpected visitors cause chaos (crazy family show up to holiday meals). Sometimes the meal doesn’t turn out right. Sometimes fear seems to take over it all and the best we can do is cling tight and hang on for the ride. Whatever it may be, know that the morning comes. It brings new perspectives and new mercies. The sun will rise again and maybe it will all come together. If not, we will just continue to stick together – the mouse will eventually leave, right?

Focus Scripture:

Leviticus 3:21-23

²¹But this I call to mind,
and therefore I have hope:

²²The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,
his mercies never come to an end;
²³they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.