“Keep alert and pray. Otherwise temptation will overpower you. For though the spirit is willing enough, the body is weak.” (Matthew 26:41 NLT)
All sorts of small animals have been visiting our yard during these beautiful spring days. They run and play in the warm sun and fresh mown grass. There is food in the bird feeders and plenty of water in the birdbath. The first family of bluebirds is ready to leave their nest. Today, robins hurried to find the worms that came to the surface while Mary Kathryn was playing in the water.
A raccoon with its pretty face has been seen plodding along, trying to get its share of the food. A couple of fox that we normally see near the street several feet away have been brave enough to enter the yard. Squirrels with all that energy run to and fro from the house to the tree to the fence. Once they get where they are going, they turn around and hurry back. They are delightful creatures to observe as they dig in the dirt hunting for the acorns they buried last fall. We spend much time watching from our kitchen windows.
Then we began to notice the squirrels had found a way to get around the fireplace and into our attic. We could actually hear them as they scattered their acorns above our heads. We love the little critters, but we couldn’t allow them to continue coming and going in our attic.
My husband borrowed a trap from a neighbor and set it with food. Soon a squirrel couldn’t resist the temptation of that good smelling food and found himself locked inside the trap. Next evening the raccoon went for the food and became trapped too. Three blue jays tried and were soon latched inside the wire cage.
The birds were released in the air and the small animal moved far out in the country. Over and over this happened. The temptation of food was placed in the trap and each time they succumbed to it. The animals have been removed long enough to repair the place where they were entering the attic.
I thought about how we as humans are lured by the sights and sounds of temptation in our lives. Unlike the creatures of the earth, God has given us an avenue of escape. Always be alert to the possibilities of temptation around you, for though our spirits are willing enough, our bodies are weak.
The animals in our yard found the food in the wire cage when they were hungry, and temptations buffet us where we are most vulnerable too. But, God gives us strength to defeat Satan’s power when we cry out to Him in prayer.
Melva Cooper