Although the goal was to kill the mouse, it was still a sad sight. There he was, his legs splayed out from his little body, which lay motionless on the floor of the trap. Just a tiny, young mouse, he was lured to death by peanut butter. The smell was irresistible. There’s a lesson here for us!
But first, a word about the mouse trap, something my wife Nancy ordered online.
It might sound somewhat brutal, but in comparison to other ways a mouse might die, it is really quite humane. One massive shock, and in an instant, the rodent is dead, electrocuted on the spot.
Better than being swallowed alive by a snake. Or ripped to pieces by a hawk. (Both have been seen in our backyard.) Better than being crippled by a trap, only to languish until found and eliminated. Better than being chewed up by a cat.
Either way, the method of the mouse’s death is not the subject of this article. Instead, it’s how he was lured to his death, namely, by tasty food. Just like so many of us!
Of course, like the mouse, we know there might be some risk.
All that sugar.
All that starch.
All that unhealthy stuff.
All that fried food. And fatty food.
All that stuff that clogs your arteries and leads to a wide variety of diseases, some of them deadly.
Sure, we reason, there might be some risk in eating burgers and fries and milkshakes, in gorging ourselves with chips and ice cream and cookies. But we don’t want to get fanatical about the latest healthy eating fads. These people who want us to live on sea weed just need to chill.
After all, we say to ourselves, we were once told that smoking cigarettes was healthy. Maybe doctors will tell us tomorrow that pepperoni pizza and Coca Cola are healthy.
Plus, we argue, when we give up our favorite foods we feel lethargic. We get headaches. We become grouchy. Life just isn’t fun when we can’t eat what we want.
And so, like that sorry little mouse, we are lured to a premature death by our foods of choice.
Looking back, was the heart attack really worth it? How about the Type 2 Diabetes? How about a myriad of other conditions – some of them potentially fatal – that can be prevented by healthy eating?
Consider this scenario.
Your doctor says to you, “You don’t have to be on medication for high blood pressure and cholesterol, you can avoid serious and invasive heart surgery, you can be cured of your Type 2 diabetes, you can add years of health and vitality to your life, and you can have so much more energy for your family, friends, job, and ministry work.”
You say in reply, “I know it’s true, but I love my food.”
Aren’t we just like that mouse?
The truth be told, in some ways, we are not like that mouse.
That’s because the little mouse did not know that his food choice would be fatal. He did not know he was in for the shock of his life (quite literally). Had he known, he would have resisted the temptation.
On the other hand, we are like that mouse.
He probably suspected danger, like some of us do, but the smell of that peanut butter was too much for him. Against his better judgment, he had to indulge. And it cost him his life.
This coming August, by God’s grace, will mark 5 years since the Lord helped me make a radical change to my lifestyle. I am grateful beyond words.
I’m 64 now, but I feel much younger than I did at 59. My overall health is night and day better. My energy level is much higher, my immune system vastly stronger, my mind much sharper.
Sometimes I just want to run and jump (and I do!) because I feel so blessedly healthy. I really am grateful beyond words.
Recently, after a massive battery of blood tests, yielding a report that was 15-pages long, my doctor told me that in some important ways, I was healthier than men in their 20s. And he told me that some of the numbers on the report were literally off the chart – in the most positive way, of course.
For results like that, I’m more than happy to say goodbye to pizza and pasta and pretzels. For these incredible changes (and what I wrote here is just the tip of the iceberg), I’m more than happy to bid adieu to chocolate and cookies and candy.
Last month, our ministry received an email from a woman who wrote, “I wanted you to know that you both have been such a great inspiration to me. I read your book, Breaking the Stronghold of Food, and it has been a HUGE life-changer for me.”
She explained, “I started my weight loss journey on October 30, 2017, at the age of 60-1/2 years old,” standing 5 feet, 1 inch tall and weighing 235.2 pounds.
“On April 16, 2019,” she wrote, “I woke up and weighed myself. I was 120.2 pounds.”
She lost 115 pounds in a year and a half, and she did it through healthy eating rather dieting. What a wonderful transformation!
As a lifelong unhealthy eater until I was nearly 60 years old, I’m here to tell you that if I can change, so can you.
Gluttony was not my problem. Unhealthy eating was my problem. Food addictions were my problem.
I was like that mouse, being lured to a premature death through the appeal of favorite foods. But the Lord graciously intervened and worked a miracle in my life, with critically important help from Nancy too.
God can do the same for you (and Nancy put her sage advice in our book).
Don’t be like that mouse!
