Once upon a time there was a little girl. She had her own hopes and dreams, frustrations and disappointments, desires and longings, fears and hesitations. She also had her fair share of struggles with low self-esteem when her desire to be noticed and appreciated seemed to go unmet.
One day, she had a quarrel with her older siblings, leaving her feeling very misunderstood, rejected, uncared for, and wounded. In fact, she was so devastated with all the confusing thoughts that tormented her about her worth and value, that for a brief moment she even had the passing thought to run headlong off the cliff at the quarry where she and her family were having a picnic.
However, as she started to entertain that suicidal thought, her train of thought got distracted as she noticed a beautiful snake on a nearby rock. As she admired the snake’s piercing eyes and its physical beauty, she found great solace and comfort. She decided to keep this snake as a pet, to which her parents perhaps somewhat begrudgingly obliged.
The girl felt that this snake saved her life that day, for if the snake was not there to distract her and to fill her with a calming sense of peace and solace to relieve the stress she was going through, who knows where she would be today? For if that snake wasn’t there for her, she might have run off the cliff in her moment of swirling, tormenting, conflicting emotions.
With the permission of her parents, the girl kept the snake in a glass terrarium in her bedroom. However, the terrarium began to omit a foul odor as it frequently needed to be cleaned. The girl insisted that the snake was harmless, as the internet confirmed that this species of snake was non-venomous. However, keeping this pet did not come with its share of problems.
In addition to the foul odor, this snake required a diet of small rodents, amphibians, and insects, many of whom had to be kept alive for the snake to consume. By bringing these animals into the house to the girl’s bedroom, there was the risk that any of these small rodents or insects might escape into the house. This could even lead to an infestation that could compromise the value of the home or require the costly services of a pest exterminator.
The little girl had an older brother who had gone overseas for military duty. Tragically, this brother had died in active combat; but he had not died in vain. For in his death, this brother had sacrificed his body to gunfire in order to save the life of a fellow soldier. This fellow soldier whose life was saved was none other than the son of the nation’s president. As the nation mourned the loss of this war hero, the president himself arranged to visit the home of the hero’s parents to comfort them at the loss of their son.
On top of all this chaos, the daughter with the pet snake was going through her own share of personal struggles. Her snake tank continued to reek, such that whenever she opened her bedroom door, the stench would waft throughout the entire home. Upon receiving the news that the president would soon be visiting their home, the girl’s parents were anxious to get the home as clean as possible out of honor and respect to the nation’s leader. Needless to say, they confronted their daughter about the pet snake. For if they could not get rid of the stench, then they would have to get rid of the snake.
There was something about this particular snake that although it was non-venomous, it produced a toxic odor that made it unpleasant for many people to be around. However, when the parents tried to reason with their daughter about giving up the snake, they were met with heartfelt resistance. “You don’t love me! You don’t care about me! You just don’t understand! You never listen to me! You don’t want me to be happy! You’re so toxic and selfish!,” she moaned, wailed, and screamed at them as she broke into tears.
The girl remained attached to that snake, remembering how if it wasn’t for that snake, she might have committed suicide in a moment of tormented angst. Whenever she felt afraid, stressed, or lonely, she would retreat into her room, where the snake would prove a trustworthy, understanding companion with a listening ear. Even though the snake couldn’t verbally communicate in English, just its very presence gave her a sense of peace and comfort that helped her to calm down.
Questions for discussion:
If you were the girl’s parents, what would you do in this situation?
How would you help the daughter to process or to deal with her emotions about the snake?
What might the daughter be failing to see about the nation’s president visiting her home?
What if the girl decided to remain in her room with the snake rather than meeting the nation’s president? If the girl continues to tie her personal happiness to the snake, how might she miss out on wonderful opportunities that may come her way?
There is a saying that goes, “the good is the enemy of the best.” Although the snake was not hurting anybody in the sense that it did not bite people with poison, how was it negatively affecting the home?
Although the girl justified the snake’s presence by arguing that it was harmless, was her connection to the snake in her best interests, emotional growth, and maturity long-term?
Is it possible that in her emotional pains and traumas, she was ignorant to the ways in which her relationship to the snake was holding her back from moving forward into more loving relationships and from connecting with influential people?
Questions for deeper reflection:
Are there some “pet snakes” in your own life that you need to “get rid of?” See 1 Corinthians 5:6-8; Ephesians 4:31; James 1:21; Colossians 3:5-10.
An ancient king had to get rid of a snake on a pole, because although this artifact originally was used as an instrument of healing for the people, now the people were worshiping it with inordinate affection and trust over and above the true Source of the healing. How might this apply to the story of the girl? How might this apply to our own lives? See Numbers 21:4-9; 2 Kings 18:1-4; John 3:14-17)
Just as the news that the president would visit her home ought to have filled the girl with humble sobriety, joy, hope, honor, esteem, confidence, and great expectation, her close connection to the snake caused her to react with worry, fear, bitterness, anger, self-pity, and grief. How might we be tempted to react with worry, fear, shame, bitterness, malice, arrogance, rage, and other toxic attitudes when we listen to the lies of “the serpent”?
If we truly understand what it means for the King who created the universe to come into our life, to make His home in us, and to transform us from the inside-out, then how would this good news change the way we see our lives and purpose on a daily basis?
Would it be in the girl’s best interests to connect with the snake in her room, or to connect with the president of her nation who came to care about her? In the same way, how can we better treasure the opportunity at connecting with our all-powerful Creator who loves us, came to us, and gave Himself for us?
For more information on this good news available to us about knowing God personally, see this blog post called “Four Spiritual Laws for Healing a Broken Heart.”
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