Snakes alive

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I noticed a shoelace on the hall floor. With our family I never knew what I was going to find where after the exodus to school and work. When I walked back through the hall I noticed that the shoelace had was looped in a different way. Shoelaces do not usually move of their own volition. It was a SNAKE. A live snake too and IN the house. My general attitude to snakes is that any contact, even eye contact with a photograph, is to be avoided at all costs. I had a dilemma. I was the only person at home. Normally I would summon help but David was in an office somewhere in the world, Tom in California, Stephen in Utah and both girls ensconced in the High School. I had a High School student arriving in an hour. I could wait for him to deal with the intruder but that would mean keeping watch and I did not want to stay in the hall for that length of time. I made a plan. I would be independent. I got a large and long  broom and swept the little chap out of the house. He was not very happy about the indignity of this situation but we both survived.

Today as I read the snake verse in Psalm 91my thoughts wondered to this story and how I had stepped out of my female comfort zone and done something which I would normally have reserved for one of the men in the house. This lead me to my mother who was widowed at the age of 38. She had been spoilt by her father and cosseted by her husband. There were many instances when she had to do something which to her was 'men's work'. Even in my adulthood I did not appreciate her boldness. I never did during her life and now it is too late to tell her. I live with the guilt. Thank you Jesus for dying for my omissions.