morning:
i woke up and started reaching for my
Bible and journal and mp3 player as has become my habit and noticed that my
stuff was strewn across the floor instead of in my purse or on the night stand
where i had left it last night. i
started gathering things and noticed that it seemed like something was missing:
my bible. i found it underneath the other
side of the bunk bed that i’m sleeping on (probably 3 feet away from where it
had been left and a level lower as it had been on a small table)…and then i
noticed some dark blue strips of a paper-looking substance on the ground. uh-oh…a mouse at the cover of my bible! so after that glorious find so early, i went
to put my headphones in (brand new ones – i bought them last week in panama
because my other ones were bothering my ears)…and noticed that they seemed to
have been snipped off close to where the ear-buds should have been. uh-oh…that same mouse at my
headphones. not exactly what one wants
to wake up to before 6 in the morning…but i tried to make the most of it.
apparently God likes to teach through
funny stories such as these…because i’ve been seeking Him and praying about
how I’m so hungry for Him to teach me, so hungry for His word, so hungry for
his presence. maybe animals aren’t so
dumb after all…think about it: there was food in the room, but the mouse ate
my Bible cover (note, in case you missed this in preschool: Bible covers are
not generally thought of as food). maybe
this mouse was hungry for God’s word too. and hungry to hear Him through music as it tried to figure out my
headphones (which, by the way, were still attached to my mp3 player). crazy mouse!
when i was journaling this morning, God reinforced
at least one lesson that I’ve been learning throughout these nine months…I
don’t need my Bible or my music or my journal (which was left undamaged in the
mouse’s foraging) to come to Him. i can
come just as I am, with nothing, and just sit in His presence and wait for Him
to speak. I can hear His words without
having to read what people wrote 2000 years ago (or longer). i can praise Him without music in my ears…and
who knows, maybe He’ll give me a new song to sing to Him! i can speak to Him from my heart, not
hindered by my hands moving slower than my mind. not that Bibles and music and journals are
bad things, but He wants all of me, He wants me to seek His presence and wait
on Him and listen solely to His voice…and i guess if it takes a mouse eating
my stuff for me to realize that, it’s worth it. and my bible has some extra character now…bite marks, extra tape, and
will probably be getting stickers some time soon.
yourself: “what could God be teaching me from this experience?” and keep your things off the floor.
