Once upon a time, there was a mouse and a cat. The mouse was small, fragile, and brave. The cat was big, durable, and very jumpy. They lived different lives.

The mouse was the eldest in its family. It had to protect them. The mouse’s job was to go out for food and make sure that their home was safe from the big animals outside.

The cat, lost many things in life. Family, friends, a home, everything the cat had, it disappeared like smoke. Anything he gained, it was all in vain, for it would leave too. The cat even lost its freedom when it ended up locked in the house where the mouse lived.

Now the cat and the mouse were forced to live together. For both, everything was wrong. There was an enemy and a nuisance in their territory.

The mouse thought of moving but the house was their home, they would stay. The cat was the dangerous one, with its sharp claws and teeth. So, the mouse would drive the cat away. The mouse would poke and throw things at the cat till it bared its teeth in a hiss and ran outside. The mouse and its family were safe. Until the cat came back. It always came back.

The cat wanted to leave. It did not like the clean house, the fragile things in the house, and it did not like the mouse. The cat would eat the mouse, but the mouse was too, persistent in throwing things or fighting to even let the cat close. It should have been easy to catch and kill the mouse. The mouse was fragile and smaller. Then a pebble would hit the cat’s eye and the mouse kept squeaking loudly as it kept throwing pebbles. The cat would growl and leave the mouse alone, not wanting anything else in its eyes.

If the cat was not chasing the irritating mouse, it was pacing in the yard. Observing and coming up with plans to leave. But there were tall gates that it could not jump over, small holes it could not fit through, and big animals surrounded the gates.

The day came when the mouse had to go get food from outside. The house was running low on food and there was a garden in the field next door. There were some big animals there, but the mouse was quick and had a good aim. So, the mouse was unafraid as it scurried out the house and under the gates. The mouse did not see the cat watching.

In the garden, the mouse collected as much food as it could, but there were more big animals this time. A falcon happened to see the mouse, and instead of the dead fish it had, it wanted the live mouse.

The mouse had never seen the falcon before. It had talons longer than the cat’s claws, a beak sharper than the cat’s teeth, eyes darker than the coldest night. For once, the brave mouse was very afraid, terrified. It ran as fast as it could to the gate, swerving as the falcon dove. The mouse even used the fish the falcon dropped to hide in. But the mouse was so afraid, it lost its way, and when it arrived at the gate the hole it came out of, was not there.

The cat’s eyes trailed the falcon as it went up and down, up and down. A tiny squeak made the cat’s ears perk. The cat looked down, to see soft ground, but no hole. The falcon had rose, but was quickly preparing another descent. The cat could have done nothing, could have kept quiet. But the falcon was coming too close for the cat’s comfort. The cat jumped and hissed at the falcon, its fur bristling. The falcon stopped its descent to squawk at the loud cat but the fence was too tall to see or do anything.

The falcon’s pause gave the mouse enough time to quickly dig another hole. Though the falcon lost interest in the cat it could not see and focused back on the prey it could. The falcon continued its dive. The hole was not big enough for the mouse and the food it harvested to come through at the same time. Using the slimy fish, the mouse pushed the food through and quickly squeezed in after. The falcon came down as the mouse jumped from the hole. The falcon’s beak followed and nipped at the mouse’s foot. The mouse let out a squeak. The cat let out a hiss and clawed the beak.

The falcon’s pained squawk made the mouse and the cat jump as the falcon flew away. In silence they stood, panting and staring at the falcon as it flew away. Slowly their gazes met. They blinked at each other. Then the mouse threw something at the cat and scurried away. The cat let a loud yowl as it jumped, the slimy object hitting the cat’s nose. The cat grumbled, pawing at its wet nose until it looked down and saw a fish.

Once upon a time, there was a mouse and a cat. The mouse was small, irritating, and persistent. The cat was big, dangerous, and kind. They lived in a house, chasing each other, smiles on their faces. For there was always fish for a cat, and sharp claws for big animals that tried to come through the gates into their home. All was as it should be.

REAL TALK:

So, this story is short and sweet, very simple, but sometimes that’s how things in life are. We can find ourselves in situations or environments that we never thought possible. Bad things and good things happen. Sometimes, all we can see is the bad. Sometimes, all we can see is the good. Either way, there are times we look around us and say, “How did we get here?” We could try to figure it out, who to blame, how to fix it, how to get out, how to stay in, wait till the other shoe drops, or we could even do nothing! There are some many options, but do we stop to ask, what is the next right thing?

Now asking “What’s the next right thing?” doesn’t always make the right thing absolutely clear in our minds. Our biased views (a cat is dangerous; a mouse is fragile) can affect how we see things and what we deem right. But the truth is, we don’t know what is right. We are not righteous, only God is. Only God knows all, sees all, judges all, and loves all. So, go to God, and things will turn out how they should. Not how you want or how you think it should be, but how it simply truly should be, us going to God.