by Carla Hardwick

As I hurried upstairs, the smell met me at the top of the steps. It was a just a whiff of an unfamiliar smell that seemed to vanish whenever I tried to locate its source. I sniffed in the direction of the boy's room. Their room seems to breed strange smells, especially under the beds. No, this strange smell was stronger on my side of the hallway. I walked into my bedroom and there it occurred to me what the smell was. It had a decidedly rodent flavor to it. Dead mouse.

A couple of days earlier one of the boys had seen a mouse-like critter scamper across the floor in the living room. But he didn't get excited or anything. My son, that is. Scurrying fuzzy creatures are nothing new around our house. We have pet hamsters who somehow contort their furry little bodies to escape the confines of their cages. Every winter, we also have field mice who unwisely decide that living inside our warm house is preferable to living in the cold cow pasture behind the house. Apparently, one of these wild little critters had somehow migrated to my bedroom then gave up the ghost.

I tried to let my nose direct me to the final resting place of the mouse. I searched every dusty corner and under every piece of furniture in the bedroom, but my nose led me back to one place. The smell came from directly under our bed. So I took the bed apart and moved it all out of the way. No mouse was found, but his presence was getting stronger by the minute. Our house has a small cavity between floors to accommodate the heating ducts. It dawned on me that the dead mousy smell must be coming from that cavity. There was nothing that I could do about it. I'd just have to live with the odor for a day or two, but then it would go away.

On day one, the smell was strong. On day three the smell was stronger. By day six it had become obvious to me that this smell could not have been fueled by just one dead mouse. There must be a whole nest of dead rodent babies, starved to death by the untimely demise of mother mouse. But there was nothing I could do about it. So I waited for the smell to go away.

Men and women are very different. My hubby crawled into bed and went to sleep each evening with hardly a thought about the stench below the bed. He slept soundly, oblivious to the discomfort of his wife. I fell asleep only to be awakened a few minutes later by my nose. I cracked the window. It got cold. Then it got really cold. I closed the window. I buried my head in the pillows. The smell followed me. I tried to think about pleasant smells, like spring flowers and baking bread. It didn't work. My nose said that the aroma of bread baking is not like the reek of dead mouse. There was nothing I could do about it.

I decided to pray. I know it sounds silly to pray about dead mice, but I pray about all sorts of silly stuff. Maybe God smiles at my silly prayers. I like to imagine it that way.

God, would you make the smell go away?

No answer.

God, you know everything. You know how bad this decaying mouse smells. You know I desperately need sleep. I know you can do miracles. Please make the smell go away.

The smell was still there. I was beginning to feel a little angry. I don't know if the anger was directed toward the dead mouse or at God.

God, why does it smell so bad?

God answered.

Ephesians 2:1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins

Me? Oh, God! I offend your Holy Nose? I'm the stinker? My sin smells this bad?

I mentally multiplied my sin by the millions (or is it billions?) of sinners in this world. What an awful smell comes from our planet!. Maybe it was the smell of death that came up to the nostrils of God when Adam and Eve sinned in the garden of Eden that led Him to their hiding place among the trees. (Genesis chapter 3)

Okay God. I get the point. I am a sinner. I reek of death. There is nothing I can do about it. How can You stand the stench?

God answered.

2 Corinthians 2:15 For we are to God the aroma of Christ

Jesus! Of course! He had done something about it. It is the sacrificial death of Jesus that forever does away with the smell of death. There will be no smell of death in heaven! Praise God. The stench is only temporary. A passing wisp of this life.

God, thanks for reminding me.

In His wisdom, He chose to remind me for another week or so of foul-smelling nights. There was nothing I could do about it but lay there and imagine God smiling at my silly prayers.