Church Mouse

There are seasons to the chaos that surround the church community. Christmas, of course, and then the Easter season. People spend forty days trying to avoid their most craved-for items, then blow it all on day 41 and spend the next few days regretting the whole cycle. People use the time to turn over new leaves, to start on a better path, clearer thinking, and the search for Jesus’s footsteps peaks.

In the church, Church Chicks sit right in the middle of it all. The parishioners, drop by, share their tales of woe and want, the Pastors fly through with rapid phrased directions, shorthand conversations fill the season. Did you? How will we? Yes, how tall is the floral cross? Plan and process, preach and pray. Day in/day out. It’s a very busy season. The pastoral and other church staff are busier than Santa’s elves in the Lenten season. So much to do, so many to help, so much to learn. Sigh…

In the crazy scheme of this high speed season, sometimes, unknowingly, the little ones are neglected. I mean, doesn’t God love everything? Every ant, and dust mite? God doesn’t just look after or guide the people around town, no. Our God is an all loving God.
This is where the Church Ladies come in. Although not written in any job description, it is the frazzle- fraught CL’s that look down into the corners of life, and while many pastoral staff are trying to keep their heads up and focused on heavenly times, sometimes it is in the shadowed cracks and crevices where the other creatures in need of love and acceptance dwell.

This CL decided to spread her wings and welcome critters, church critters. I bought a bird feeder and suctioned it onto my office window, then filled it with delectable bird seed. A month later, it still sticks, and the seed is still there, a few seeds have now fallen into my window sill flower pots and are growing. I’ll transplant the sunflowers to the church beds when they get a little taller.
I was so certain that the birds would immediately flock to the food, that I bought a king size bag of only the best! It has been residing in my church lady closet all this time. Last week, while cleaning out my closet, I noticed that the seeds had spilled.
I pulled out the shelves and table and found that somehow, the spill had managed to pour itself into a straight line. I followed the seed line across my closet where it dead ended into a pile of shelled seeds at the base of my file cabinet. Curious. How did that happen?

Then it hit me. I had a real live CHURCH MOUSE!! I squealed with delight, as any church lady might, and the attentive staff, hearing my lilting cries rushed to see what my excitement was all about. Twenty minutes later, when I had grown tired of hanging from my ceiling fixture and had agreed to come down ( only to stand on my desk, mind you, no floor) we discussed the situation.
What a dilemma. On one hand, I loved being graced with a church mouse. On the other hand, I wanted to seek out that little critter and invite him to take a lengthy nap under my telephone book, with a heavy lamp or two on top.

Church Chick