Of Mice and Moths
Imagine. You’re hungry and it’s five o’clock. Time to cook dinner for your family.
All day you have been dreaming about cooking up something extra special for your family. The fresh spinach is calling out to you to blend it with curried lentils and that wonderfully aromatic basmati rice. The ingredients have somehow come together, and tonight, yes this very night, is the night for their flavors to meld into what can only be described as a harmonious combination of taste-bud-pleasing, dare I say divine - ambrosia.
The pantry is well stocked and ready for dusty culinary skills to prove themselves not-unforgotten. The door is opened in anticipation and the lentils lay hidden among the extra bounty. Oh, what joy there will be tonight at the dinner table. What dreams to be fulfilled.
The rice is within your out stretched hand. Oh, the horror and angst. Grains stream from a hole. The pantry shelf is littered with mouse droppings. Not only is the rice contaminated, but so are the lentils, the egg noodles, the brown rice, the brown sugar, the kidney beans and the list goes on and on. What loss. Such sorrow. How can this be?
A frazzled house wife hurries to remove all her bargains and the “deals - to good to pass up.” She hurls them with disgust into the trash can. Such waste - such a mess. As she scrubs the shelves and inspects each bag of apparently untainted food, she notices that the white rice is moving. She leans in and peers carefully at the individual grains. They live. The rice and other saved food appears to be infested with moth larvae. Oh, the disgust! Oh, the mess!
She trashes what remains of her bulk supplies. Into the land fill with you. Be gone - Oh, vile pestilence - Be gone - Oh, savings of a thriftier day. Such loss! Such folly!
From Matthew 6:19 - 21
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
If you haven’t guessed by now - I am that desperate housewife.
Whoa! I never realized - not fully at least - that buying these sale items and storing them up for another day was so foolish. I mean - I was buying things I would use in the future. I was being frugal and “getting the most” for a buck. Right? But, now I see through the eyes of one who has had an infestation of moths and their larvae. Ick - Such waste!
I probably threw away one hundred dollars when all was tossed into the rubbish pile - not to mention the hours of cleaning involved and that I had to order out dinner so that I could evict our little guests.
In light of these events, I have decided to use up what I still have that was spared from ruin. I am going to be using now what I actually have stored up for another day. So, no more bulk and sale buying when I have a storehouse that needs to be emptied.
I thought I was so clever and wise - when in fact I was a fool. I purchased items - not because I needed them now - but because it made me feel good. I was looking after my family - using our money wisely. That felt so good.
The reality of the matter is all that savings became waste - useless - poor stewardship. The filth and destruction is a visual I will not soon forget. Visuals impact me - they help me to remember what has been. Visuals give a clear image of what not to do in the future. That image of rice crawling with larvae made me feel so bad - so stupid. Did I mention nauseous?
So next time, you are shopping, and there is this awesome deal of something that you already have - too good of a deal to pass on - whatever that thing is. Pause and think - what sort of company to I wish to attract - the uninvited pests that made my basmati rice their home, or what about the vermin - that gnawed holes in my lentils. Ponder these things - the next time you unwittingly store up grain for “moths and rust to destroy” or beans for small four-footed thieves “to break in and steal.” Get a good visual.
Amy told me about that fly - so gross - She got me queasy!
Greg: So are you asking for my mice and rice? I could always throw them in the freezer for you.
On the other hand, what’s the matter with a few mouse droppings? Don’t you realize that even the Dept. of Health allows xxx amount of mouse droppings per ton of bulk food, and it’s quite common occurance, especially in restaurants. Think about that next time you’re at Wendy’s.
Another one bites the dust on August 7th!