ForgottenWoman

Seen and Unseen Enemies

Have you heard about the birds and the bees? I mean the hornets and the bees and how active and mad they are this year? I kept hearing people talk about this and wondered what I was missing. And then, I discovered exactly what they were discussing!

About two weeks ago, I came out of my back door and saw a giant hornet’s nest built on my power meter. It was daunting, to say the least, and I determined that I needed to talk to one of my sons about dealing with it for me. We discussed what needed to happen, and I purchased the supplies so that he could remove them later that evening. He discovered not one, but four nests on the house – the one that I had seen, and three on and under the front porch. As he had promised; he dealt with all of them and the next day I was able to use the hose and remove any remaining signs of the nests.

On July 4, I was preparing the house and yard for the family to come over, and while sweeping the front porch, a lone hornet stung me on the top of my foot. “Ouch!” That hurt! I put some melaleuca oil on it,, and the sting subsided greatly so I continued on with my work. Now it was time to mow the grass. It was about 15 minutes later when I ran over a yellow jacket’s nest and was stung on the back of the opposite foot about 8 times (at least that’s how many holes I counted.) Once again, I went to the medicine cabinet and applied melaleuca oil. We continued on with our July 4 celebrations, complete with our traditional FireWorks, and I didn’t say anything to anyone about the stings, but I could feel the pain slightly and assumed it was part of the process. 🙂

On Saturday, one of my sons took me with him and his wife to the lake for the day. We had a wonderful time and I learned the beginnings of paddle boarding – but noticed that both ankles and feet were swelling and that keeping them in the water eased the pain just a bit.

It was in the wee hours of Sunday morning that I was in so much pain that I couldn’t sleep. I tried to get out of bed and saw that my ankles and feet were extremely swollen and red. I managed to get down the stairs and started tending to my “injuries,” but as I thought about the events of the past few days, a life lesson emerged in my mind!

You know that giant hornet’s nest? I saw it as the enemy. I saw it as a danger if left unattended. It was obvious that inside that nest were little creatures that could do great damage not only to me but to those that I love. Little grandboys saw it as a target for rocks! Because I recognized it as a danger, I made sure to have it removed. But what I wasn’t careful about was the remnants that were left behind. While sweeping the porch, I never considered that there was a lone hornet lurking that was ready and very able to hurt me. And it did!

When I started the mower and began working on the grass, I didn’t see the yellow jacket’s nest. I had no idea that while going about my business, I would be quite literally attacked by several tiny creatures that could do great harm to me. Within 15 minutes on a Friday morning, while going about my daily work nonchalantly and maybe even a little carelessly, I was hurt by unseen enemies.

In my Christian life, quite often I’m aware of the giant enemies; the giant temptations that I know I need to not only avoid but remove from my life. What I am most often hurt by are the unseen enemies, those that I am careless about, those that I don’t take the time to focus on, to remove from my life: pride, jealousy, selfishness, self-pity… In weak moments or moments of carelessness, I allow these things to creep in, and great damage is done to not only myself but to those that I love as I allow the unseen enemies to affect me.

The effects of my stings linger. It’s almost a week later, and I still have residual scars, that crazy itch that reminds me of what happened, and some soreness at the site of the stings. The effects of spiritual unseen “stings” also linger when we allow them into our lives. Damaged relationships may take years to rebuild, a damaged testimony or reputation may be impossible to overcome, a pause in my spiritual growth will hinder all that God desires to do in my life…

What I’ve learned through this experience is simple: Yes, get rid of the giant hornet’s nest, but don’t forget about the unseen enemy lurking beyond the obvious! I must daily take stock of my heart and seek the Lord; asking if there is any wicked way in me that needs to be dealt with – any root of sin that I need to ask the Lord to forgive and then walk through my day alert and aware of what may trip me up, what may do me harm!

Thank you for reading, and as always, thank you so much for your support of my work.