Caution!

Carefully, I tucked each trouser leg into a long sock. I didn’t look sophisticated. I didn’t care. I didn’t want a tick bite.

I thought I was safe. Then last night, a few hours after our walk, I felt a sharp pain on my calf. A tiny tick somehow found its way through the trousers, or up the leg, or whatever, and there he was, sucking my blood. I tweezered him out, put on the TCP, and now pray there was no Lyme’s disease in him.

We can take all sorts of precautions in life. But life itself is risky. It’s worth taking the precautions, but then it’s worth taking the risks. Jesus came to give us life to the full. He doesn’t want us to stress out, nor to play it safe.

Have a great day.

Tick Tock

What lovely weather we had over the weekend! Don and I both spent time trying to re-take the garden for ourselves by weeding out, cutting back and strimming. This morning, I noticed a wee black spot on my upper leg. Don noticed one on his, too. Ticks. Tiny, but poised to grow. We quickly dealt with them, but the thought of these creepy beasties keeps coming back.

They sneak up on you and latch on, and suck the life out of you as they grow bigger. They can carry disease, too, which is a horrid thought. But as I sat with the Lord this morning, I was thinking about the spiritual ticks which also can sneak up on us, latch on and suck out the life. I thought of Matthew 7: Don’t judge. That’s an insidious one which, in my experience, needs to be dealt with again and again. 

So, on this Monday morning, I pray that the Lord will help me to remove the spiritual ticks which have latched onto me, sucking out the Life. Create in me a clean heart, o Lord, and renew a right spirit within me.