Lily has turned ten this week. The exact date she arrived in the 5^th generation dairy barn down the road from my former home in New Hampshire is anyone’s guess. I do know that she was born the week my youngest child graduated from high school with one of the sons destined to continue the family’s farming heritage. Their commencement ceremony was held in a much-cleaned up pulling barn at the State Fair grounds beside the high school. The twinkling lights, fresh hay, and flowering lilacs masked the faint residue of decades of cow and horse competitions. There were 84 graduates that year. My slender black cat with white feet and white whiskers was gifted to me that August, as my new college freshman decided a totally empty nest might be a hard truth for me. It was, actually.

Just this week Lily introduced a young creature into our small apartment. She had chased a tiny mouse into the living room and was staring at its small frozen form. It was too afraid to move. I grabbed a cloth to scoop it up. The poor thing scampered under the closet door but didn’t move beyond the threshold. I managed to capture it and safely deposit it outside in the garden. Delicate features trembled as I moved it from cloth to earth. The mouse did not run away. When I checked a bit later, the slender creature remained in its place. It was perfectly formed, with features sharply defined ~ tiny nose, red eyes outsized for its slender, triangle-shaped head, perky little ears, delicate feet tucked under its shaking torso.

“The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made” [Ps. 145:9 NIV]. Mice are not a roommate choice: their unfettered presence in a home is havoc for the humans. But I am less willing of late to set deadly traps for visitors dragged in by the cat. Lost at the wrong address and needing safe passage to its natural environment, I was glad to rescue that one baby mouse whose venture from its mother was nearly tragic. It was gone the next morning, without a trace.

“The Lord upholds all who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down” [Ps. 145:14 NIV]. Most surely I am not the Almighty. Maybe my task was to be that creature’s protector, to savor its aliveness and the wonders of creation it carries. The glories of God’s kingdom live all around us. Meek mice and once-wandering cats bring creation to the doorstep of our temples. We do well to recognize the glorious splendor of the Lord in creatures small and fragile. A quick rescue renewed my hope in God’s abiding presence in all things.