Cheezer has been restored to his rightful owner.

Cheezer appeared in our front garden one day last month. Obviously a much loved mouse, he had somehow come over the top of our 2 metre granite wall. Twice a little girl had been spotted peering in through our gateway, as if hoping she might catch sight of something she had lost.

Appeals in church for clues about the identity of a little girl with blonde ringlets, accompanied by a Filipina nanny wearing a baseball cap, brought reports of her being seen in the post office. She could not be far away! It would just be a matter of waiting and watching for the reappearance of the little girl looking for her lost mouse.

Starting work in the parish magazine, I looked out of the window for inspiration and caught sight of the ringlets. Grabbing Cheezer, I searched around for the remote control to open the gates, and then went running along the pavement.

“Hello! Hello! Excuse me!”.

The nanny turned around and then the little girl. Panting for breath, I said, “Is this your Cheezer? I saw you looking in a couple of times.”

“It is”, said the girl, “thank you”.

The nanny was in a fit of giggles. I could read in her face the question as to who was this mad priest returning a lost mouse.

“Thank you, Father”, she said, stifling the laughter.

I smiled and turned to walk back to my house.

Complete idiocy? Maybe. But what’s more likely to stick in the mind of a young person, sermons and ceremonies, or the fact that someone from the church returned her lost mouse? Better to be remembered as an old fool than as an old bore!

It’s in the little things that Jesus looks for faithfulness, get those right and the big stuff will fall into place.