When I was thinking about what to write about today, the term mice or men came to mind. Yes, there is a background story to today's blog. Today was a day of mice. Mice invaded my house or maybe just one aggressive mouse; I don't know for sure.
So my family was sitting down to dinner when one of my children opened up or condiment drawer in the house. Everyone has a condiment drawer, right? A draw where you put the extra ketchup and condiment packets that you get from eating out. So after opening the condiment drawer, my daughter noticed a mess. Multiple condiment packets were broke open. After further inspection, we noticed mouse droppings all over the place. For those of you that know my wife and me, we are clean freaks, so this was quite disturbing to us.
The house we owned prior was built in 1875, and this house was built in 1864. Anyone that has lived in an old house knows that there is always a small crack in the foundation that a mouse can get in, no matter what you do to keep them out. Well, after completely remodeling our house we thought that we had mouse proofed our new house. After living in the house for a year and a half and not seeing a sign of a mouse, we thought that we were home free. Today changed everything. We ended up taking a trip to the local hardware store and filling a cart with mouse traps, mouse bait stations, wire netting and anything else we could get our hands on. Tune into tomorrow to see if we catch anything!
Why Mice or Men?
So I figured that I should write about our little destructive friend tonight since it has consumed my evening. Just sitting back now and thinking about how much damage one mouse can cause when it wants to be destructive is crazy. My conclusion is that mice are nothing more than a food source for other animals. The only purpose they serve in my home is to be destructive. They do not help me in any way. Mice do not build up my family or provide for them. They have no purpose in life.
As a husband and father, it is important for me to do some self-evaluation on a regular basis. Am I fulfilling my God-given role in life? Am I the husband and father that God wants me to be? Or am I being destructive and tearing apart my household?
Ephesians 5:25 NASB “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her,”
1 Timothy 5:8 NASB “But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”
1 Peter 3:7 NASB “You husbands in the same way, live with your wives in an understanding way, as with [a]someone weaker, since she is a woman; and show her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered.”
Being a good husband and father.
As husbands, it is our God-given duty to take care of our family and be a support system to them. Do we find ourselves as mice or men? Being like mice and destructing our house through our actions and words? Or are we fulfilling what God designed for us? Do we lead our wife and children to God?
Ephesians 6:4 NASB “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”
Proverbs 22:6 NASB Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when he is old he will not depart from it.
Psalm 103:13 NASB “Just as a father has compassion on his children, So the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him.”
The one thing that separates mice or men is Godly instruction. When we train our children to life a God-centered life, they carry the lifestyle with them forever. As men, we are role models for our children. Some of us need to do a better job of becoming a man, while others need to keep doing some tweaking. If you are a father or husband, I will encourage you to dig into the scripture to see what God has planned for your life. I listed a few verses with links to scripture that can help you on your journey of to differentiate between mice or men.