Whew....sometimes, I have experiences that just get my heart beating a little faster and adrenaline pumping. It's not like skydiving where you totally anticipate what's to come and expect the end result... it's those unexpected-not-what-I-would-have-chosen-to-do-but-it's-over-now-and-I'm-thankful kind of experiences. Bear with me while I explain:
I was in the kitchen getting breakfast ready, somewhat preoccupied, but trying to listen to what my daughter was saying. Something like this "umm...I see something with little leggies....and maybe a spiky thing...maybe something that can sting..." Honestly, my kiddos speech is not totally clear so I did the familiar 'uh huh...oh...cool..wonder what it is..hang on, I'll be right there' line. As I stepped over to join her I discovered a scorpion!!!!! Let me say paint a clearer picture for you: all my kiddos and I were barefoot in the kitchen and there was a scorpion about to pounce on us and sting us to death so that my husband would return home to all of us face up on the floor having succumbed to poisonous scorpion venom. Yep, now you're with me. So I immediately considered shooting it...with my shot gun? bow and arrow? In the meantime, kiddos - 'Get your boots on now!'. I know this may sound like overkill (no pun intended!), but this Chicago girl is NOT used to sharing living space with scorpions and I've heard they can be dangerous.
Fast forward through a couple phone calls asking friends what I should do with a scorpion (because the rational side of me wants to catch it and preserve it for a science lesson with the kiddos) and I decide to try and be brave, spare it's life (for the time being) and trap it in a jar and release it far far far from here. In the process of trying to trap it, the little sucker crawls right up the cabinet baseboard and INTO THE CABINET. oh my word. I screamed and then switched strategies to talking nicely to it to coax it back out. so I could VANQUISH it this time.
Double fast forward: I end up calling a pest company because we had already had many, many, many ants in and around the house so I figured this was a sign. The exterminators (I sometimes wish that was my job title) were so nice and understanding and proceeded to spray the house inside and out. While they were spraying outside I started having second doubts.... really? do I need to hire a company to come and deal with pesky (slightly poisonous) insects for me instead of just taking care of it on my own? ugh...I shouldn't have called...I'm such a wimp. Then they came inside to finish spraying and as I was chatting with the friendly guy we turned around in time to see a BLACK WIDOW emerge from right behind the kitchen cabinet above where the scorpion had emerged. Seriously??????? After I muffled my own scream, I politely asked him if he could catch it for me (I have an issue, I think). He was kind enough to catch it in a jar for me after asking 'are you crazy?' when I handed him a tiny, mini, but really cute, 1/2 " clothespin to scoop it up with....it was the closest object on hand from a craft project..I digress....
It made me really thankful that God has exposed the scorpion in order to find that black widow. Not how I would have chosen my day to be, but I was thankful none the less.
And it revealed something else in my heart: there have been and are certain sins that I think I can deal politely with.... just suppress it...cover over it....work on it...gradually...give it time...maybe it's not that bad because I can hide it for the most part. But God was showing me that when convicted, there are certain sins that have absolutely no business being part of my life. We are to be ruthless with eradicating and ridding ourselves of some things. And in the process, He gives Grace to reveal other hidden, black widows in our hearts that sometimes we weren't even aware of.
When I was in junior high things at home got a little unstable. I responded with just a tiny bit of rebellion that included cussing like a sailor amongst a few other things (that I'll save for later :)). Truly, I remember being so proud of myself for using more swear words than normal words in a sentence. My adjectives for anything was usually limited to four letters. And then somewhere, by the Grace of God, I was convicted to refine my speech. It didn't happen gradually with just 5 four letter words in my sentence, then 4, then 3 and so on.... it happened cold turkey. I just had to quit.
And even though God rid my speech of being overrun by swear words, He's revealed to me something even greater: there's much more to my speech than just the literal words..tone, sharpness, rhythm, passive aggressive vocabulary, being laced with sarcasm, etc. It's been a long road (I seem to have encountered a detour after having kids!) in transforming my speech from caustic to grace....and it's still a daily work in progress.
I'm happy to report that the only scorpions and black widows in this lady's house are sitting in a jar, preserved in alcohol. :) How thankful I am, though, for those 'scorpions' in my life that God uses to reveal the dangerous, hidden, lurking black widows.
