A Better Mouse Trap

It wasn’t one of my finer moments. The strategy was simple – by employing shock and awe tactics scare the mice that had invaded my condo to either surrender or to return beyond their own borders. I had marched into Home Depot, equipped myself with the necessary accoutrements (that’s for you, Ralph) and went on the attack. Except there was one minor problem – I couldn’t figure out how to use the mouse trap.

Now if you’re like me you’re probably thinking, ‘it’s a mouse trap, how difficult can it be?” That is an excellent question. The answer – surprisingly, maybe even astonishingly, so. Now mind you this wasn’t some new fangled, high-tech mouse trap. It was your standard wooden base, metal lever, disposable weapon of choice that had been used for generations, and despite all my years of wasted education, I couldn’t figure it out.

The concept of making a better mouse trap is a tried and true one. Throughout my years of business school it was repeatedly preached. After a while you realize it’s not a better mouse trap that’s needed. What you need is to differentiate your mouse trap from the rest, to somehow take the commonness of the trap and make it desirable to the masses.

In a way, that’s what we all need. We need something to set us apart, to make us feel special in a sea of ordinariness. To some how, in some way, feel like we offer a value that can’t be realized in the other mouse traps of this world. Although we may look and act the same, there’s something that makes us different and therefore wanted.

The mouse trap that I had purchased at Home Depot seemed simple. And to the person who showed me how to use it, it was. But that’s because he understood it; I thought I did, but I was wrong. How many relationships suffer from the same fate?

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Good-bye Time

As mentioned previously in this space, I hate good-byes. For me, there’s nothing good about them and if I had it my way, I would never have another one again.

This thought is especially poignant because tonight I said good-bye to a good friend. I have every reason to be happy for him – he’s following God’s call in his life, he’s getting married to a great girl , and he’s finally going home, but the selfish part of me is sad. Despite having good intentions of seeing him again, his presence here in California was symbolic of a particular season in my life. His leaving is symbolic of the fact that this season will soon change.

Life is like that. Even when we anticipate the changing season, it can be bittersweet. I consider myself a fairly well-adjusted individual and I still don’t like change. It seems to bring about a loss of control and with that, a lack of certainity. The only sane response, and yet one of the hardest, is trust.

Goodbyes are hard because all you see is what you’re losing. Trusting that the greater gain is bigger than the lost is not easy. In my case, tonight, it’s easy to see all that will be gained for my friend. It feels like the lost is mine to bear. But I trust that the coming season will bring good to both of us. And I know it will be all the more sweet because I will have yet another great friend with which to share it.

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