Go and sin no more

I don't like to kill anything, even bugs.  I dreaded the thought of killing the mouse; but I would if I'd had to. 

I wished, privately, I could just "get rid of" it without killing it.  It got hauled in the cat door against it's will.  I'm sure it will never come back...

Nothing in the traps today.  Went to work.  Did it all, came home. 

Used the bathroom, then got ready to clean the bathroom.  It seems to me a visitor always wants to use the bathroom. 

I keep the cleaning supplies in a round, 5-gallon bucket.  I have a lid for it.  I stuck my hand, into the bucket, several times as I removed various items.  Then I pulled the bucket out from beside the toilet and looked inside as I reached in, yet again. 

A tail was squirming down between two bottles of cleanser.  A long, THIN, tail -not a reptile! 

OH NO!  The mouse was in my bucket of cleaning supplies!  I quickly slapped the lid on the bucket and took it outside.  I left it for a few minutes, then prepared to remove the lid. 

I started to open the lid,  let out a good scream.  Yup, DEFINITELY a mouse in there.  God let me know it MIGHT be a good idea, to use a tool to open the bucket.  I got a rake.  I popped the lid and watched the rodent explode out of the bucket and across the yard, a furry gray streak... and I said

"Go, and sin no more!" 

[That's what Jesus said to a woman caught in adultery.  The customary punishment was stoning to death.  Jesus asked the man without sin to throw the first stone.  No one did, so He told her "Go, and sin no more", saving her life.]

I doubt I'll see it again.  Thank God it was a pacifist - I could have been bitten several times!