Lost Gerbil

Well, today was quite a whirlwind. As I was getting ready, Dan discovered that when I'd closed the gerbil cage last night, the latch hadn't clasped all the way.

I had a moment of relief when I discovered our gerbil Chip was still in the cage. But that moment quickly faded when I realized Sandwich was not.

So my husband and I started tearing the place apart. He even tore the bottom of the couch off (and later re-stapled it) to see if she'd gotten in there. Nothing. I realized we had a humane mouse trap, so I set that up. Then Dan went to get more of the same to set around the house.

But when we got home in the afternoon, the traps were empty. The only sign of Sandwich was that a couple bubble-padded envelopes had been chewed on since the morning. Based on that, some droppings, and the fact that there was no evidence of her anywhere else in the house, we determined she'd likely never left the office/spare bedroom where her cage is. So we put extra traps in there, closed the door, shoved a towel under it, and left the traps to do their work.

When I came back a few hours later to check the traps, I saw a streak of gerbil scamper from the bed to behind the bookshelf. So I blocked off her entry way and set one of the traps at the exit. Fifteen minutes of monitoring later, she'd checked it out several times, even gone in the trap, but not far enough for it to shut on her. So I set a box on its side with some food in it. A few minutes later, she scurried in and I snatched the box up.

I worried and wondered throughout this adventurous gerbil day. Had she survived long after the long fall from the dresser where her cage sat? Would she chew on valuable or sentimental things and destroy them? Would the dogs get her? If they did, would they get sick? Was she enjoying her new-found freedom, or living in fear?

When I caught her, she sure seemed to be fearful. And hungry - very eager to get food from that trap. And it struck me that God doesn't give us limits to kill our fun anymore than I put the gerbil in the cage to kill her fun. I do it because in her cage, I can give her all the food and water she needs. I can keep her safe from the over-eager predators that lurk in our house, licking their chops at the sight of the gerbils. Likewise, it's within God's limits that he can provide for us and protect us best.