Another mouse parable:
Despite our eager crew of mousers, somehow a mouse found its way into my car not once, but two nights in a row. Each morning,
I found poop pellets in numerous places. i learned on the first morning that I can't keep food in my car as I found a bag of almonds in the front passenger seat had been chewed into. Twelve individual almonds had been transported to a secret stash in the back seat floorboard. The mouse had to make multiple trips for that! He put almonds in my Finding the Gift book box of all places. (No harm was done to the books and I guess he binged on FTG meditations and almonds.) The mouse shredded
all the napkins in my glove compartment and had made another nest under my spare tire.
I try to save every living creature. I rescue spiders, wasps, moths, whatever I can. But I don’t save anything that’s causing harm to
me or my property. After two mornings in a row of my day being disrupted by unexpected mouse poop and having to completely empty my car in search of the little critter (without any luck), we set a trap on the third night. He took the bait and one of our cats enjoyed a free meal so the mouse didn’t go to waste. That mouse had no business in my car. We have to stay in our own lane, because interrupting the natural order of things gets us into trouble.
Skunk in the Cat House
The last story of “meddling in another’s business” happened two nights ago. We were getting ready for bed and I ran out to the cat house to close the windows before a storm. As I got closer, I saw that my
husband hadn’t closed their front door like he usually does at night. They still have a small cat door to get in which we hope will slow down the other wild critters. When I was three feet away from bounding up their steps, I saw a very bushy, black tail and a small face with a white stripe poking around inside their house. Hold up! That’s not a cat, that’s a young skunk. Aagh!
Of course the cats were following me to their house, thinking maybe they were going to get a bedtime snack. Up until then, the skunk must have thought, “Hey look, a free home! They have beds and water and a few crumbs. Lucky me!” But the skunk didn’t bargain for two humans with flashlights and five outside cats. He looked scared and I
could tell he wanted a way out, but was hesitant because of our cats blocking the way.
Quickly, I ran back to our house to get their favorite treat and I called for the cats to come to me. Two of them stayed, wanting to
defend their home. Hubby came to help and the skunk was finally able to escape without incident. He may think twice about entering a stranger’s home again, because it was more drama than he expected. But don't some of us kinda like that drama?
These events remind me to mind own business unless my help is truly required. Or better yet, I need to wait for my help to be requested. That’s where I get into trouble. Too often, I assess situations and conclude that I should step in and show everyone what to do to make things better. I try to play God, step on toes and complicate things.
I love the suggestion to let other people have the dignity of making their own choices and their own mistakes. Isn’t that how you and I learn our lessons best? Why would I think someone would appreciate me offering them shortcuts and my unsolicited advice?
What a relief it is to concede that I don’t have all the answers. And in most cases, there are multiple solutions that will work just fine, and many I would have never come up with.
Let's not be the skunk in the cat house. For today, let it be. Let them be. Let the flow of life happen without the constant insertion of our words and actions. Let the experts be the experts. Sit back and see what happens when we do nothing. Adopt the saying, “Don’t just do something, sit there.”
Let the young ones figure it out, unless they ask for help. Love them when they fall and encourage them to get up and try again. Be curious and ask, “How else could this work out?” And if we’re feeling extra humble, we can ask
how it could work without our help. Let’s get busy minding our own business and see how much more peace we experience.
