Pretty but dangerous

Vinca Minor
From WikiMedia Commons

   
Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. –1 Peter 5:8 (NIV)
     
     
As my husband and I hike the trails of the great outdoors, we spot different forms of wildlife and plants. I especially love wildflowers, often stopping to examine tiny blooms and wishing I knew what they were.
     
But I’ve learned not all flowers are good for the environment.  

Take periwinkle, for example. Those pretty, delicate blossoms can be downright dangerous to its surroundings. Also known as vinca minor, the quick-growing vine can take over an area, crowding out native vegetation and providing very little in terms of food and other habitat needs for native wildlife, such as insects and birds. Like other non-native invasive plants, vinca minor plays a major role in the decline of native plants—and wildlife dependent on them.
     
Spreading by its root system, vinca minor is hard to get rid of. It isn’t easy to pull up all the roots. It just takes a portion left in the ground for the persistent plant to reappear.
     
Who would have thought those innocent-looking flowers could be so dangerous?
     

Photo by Janet Allen
Stewardship Garden 

That’s how temptation comes—appearing as something harmless, pretty, and beneficial. Something that will satisfy us physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
     
That’s how Satan tempted Eve to eat the fruit God specifically commanded them not to eat. “She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too” (Genesis 3:6 NLT).
     
The result was not what they expected. Where before they knew only good, they now knew evil. And because they knew evil, God did not want them to eat of the Tree of Life and live forever in their sinful state. So they were expelled from Eden.
     
They lost their innocence, their home, their easy way of life, and their relationship with God Almighty. No more walks in the garden with Him in the cool of the evening. No more tending to a beautiful, weed-free garden planted in just the right kind of soil just for them. No more looking at things with awe and wonder.
     
Sin had done its nasty job. Their perspective of the world, of life, and of themselves was forever tainted.
     
Satan hasn’t changed his tactics.
     
A song popular in 1977 concluded with these words: “It can’t be wrong if it feels so right.” Dangerous words. Because something can look and feel right and be so wrong—and change your life and the lives of those you love forever. Something good can be irretrievably lost.
     
Don’t be fooled. Be alert. Pray for wisdom and strength.
   
And the God of grace will give you what you need to fight and win (1 Corinthians 10:13).
     
     
When temptation comes my way, O Lord, give me the wisdom to recognize it for what it is and the strength to say no. Amen.

More tea: Read Genesis 3

     

To learn more about invasive plants in Pennsylvania, visit the following sites: 

DCNR Invasive Species Site:
http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/conservationscience/invasivespecies/index.htm
http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/forestry/plants/invasiveplants/

Plant Invaders of Mid-Atlantic Natural Areas, National Park Service: http://www.nps.gov/plants/alien/pubs/midatlantic/midatlantic.pdf

Invasive Plants Field and Reference Guide, U.S. Forest Service: http://na.fs.fed.us/pubs/misc/ip/ip_field_guide.pdf 

      

Temptation troubles

So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. - Galatians 6:9 (NLT)
       
     
When I opened my Bible last Monday morning, Hebrews 10:35 jumped out at me: “Patient endurance is what you need now . . .”
     
I was on Day 21 of my diet. Patient endurance—that’s what I need, I thought, flipping through the pages of my daily devotional booklet to the day’s reading. “Tribulation produces perseverance,” from James 1 was the key verse. I finished the reading, then picked up another one of my quiet time books and opened to the bookmarked page. “Run with perseverance the race that is set before you,” I read.
     
Perseverance again.
     
“Lord, are You trying to tell me something?”
     
I didn’t need to ask. He knew I was in a funk. Easter Sunday was a bummer. First there were the Reese’s peanut butter eggs—my favorite Easter candy—that I’d gotten for the grandkids. I was proud of myself when I dumped the extras in my husband’s lunch bucket. Then there was the box of chocolate-covered nuts I’d ordered from my granddaughter’s school’s fundraiser—before I began my diet.
     
“Look what the Easter bunny brought me,” my husband said when he spied it on the kitchen counter.
     
I watched him slit open the cellophane wrapping. “Just put it where I can’t see it,” I said.
     
When he left the room, I opened the box, which he’d put on top of the refrigerator, and took a whiff. But that’s all.
     
Later that afternoon we went to my son’s for Easter dinner. As usual, they had a pretty good spread. It was the second weekend in a row they’d had a get-together. The week before I was OK with veggies and a bun-less turkey burger. But this time I was in trouble. The chocolate cake whispered my name. I ignored it. OK, I did smear some icing from my husband’s piece on my pinkie and savored the flavor as it melted in my mouth. And I did have a teensy little taste of cake that didn’t even qualify as a bite. But that’s all.
     
Then someone pulled out the jello pretzel dessert. Suddenly the dip-less veggies and gravy-less turkey didn’t seem so appealing. I stared with longing at the generous helping on my husband’s plate. Licked my lips.
     
“Does anyone else want some?” someone asked.
     
“Yes, me!” I was about to say, but I grabbed another carrot stick instead.
     
Then my daughter-in-law produced her famous strawberry shortcake. If the chocolate cake whispered and the jello pretzel dessert shouted, well, this enticement was screaming my name.
     
I left. I had to remove myself from temptation. The next morning when I weighed myself, I thought my sacrifice would be duly rewarded. It wasn’t. The bathroom scale seemed stuck on the same number as Friday.
     
So God knew when I sat down Monday morning for my quiet time that I needed some encouragement.
     
“When we depend on God to help us through our difficulties,” the writer of Monday’s meditation wrote, “we are empowered to keep going.”
     
I guess I need to depend less on me and more on God.
     
     
Thank you, Lord, for reminding me to keep my eyes on the goal and run—not walk or stumble—with perseverance. Thank you for Your help in times of temptation and discouragement. Amen.

Special-Tea: Read James 1:2-4; 1 Corinthians 10:12-13