As I'm walking on the trail, my mind is usually off somewhere else lost in thought. So I don't always notice where I'm walking. One day recently as I took a step, I happened to see that my foot was about 5 inches from a snake's head, with the rest of said snake following close behind.
When I saw this snake (not poisonous, just a good old black snake) so close to my foot, I yelled and jumped and got a good adrenaline rush! And when I realized upon watching closely that this snake seems to make his home in a nearby woodpile, I felt a little antsy. Would this disturb the peace of my morning walk? Would I always feel I needed to watch out for this snake? Would I be in a constant nervous state about him showing up on my walking path again?
Well, the next day I went out for my walk, and I had already forgotten about the snake. I was able to just enjoy a good walk and some time with Jesus. What a relief that the snake wasn't on my mind in a way that would have ruined my enjoyment of that walk.
This whole incident really made me think. I don't think God wants us to always be thinking about the "snake", the evil one, or his temptations or even of the ways we may sometimes give in to those temptations (sin). That would take away from the main purpose of our lives - to walk through each day communing with God. I think He wants our eyes not on avoiding the snake but on enjoying Him! I don't want to focus on the evil one and his doings to try to get me to sin - Christ already defeated him anyway and already dealt with my sins on the cross. So the snake is defeated and cannot snatch me from God's strong hand; that means I don't have to fear or be worried or focus on him. I want to focus on Christ. I want to live my life enjoying the union I have with Christ because of His victory over the snake!
So we don't think about the snake, we think about God, the One who walks through this life with us. His grace has brought us into intimacy with Him, and this Christian life isn't about dealing with the snake, it's about our love relationship with God!
With love to all,
