FLY, ANYONE?

Fly, Anyone?

My firstborn loved, loved, loved animals as a child. When he helped his preschool teachers capture a bird and I arrived at the school to pick him up, I was surprised to be handed not only my son but also a large cardboard box. In answer to my raised eyebrows, his teacher explained that since Stephen’s love for animals was so well known, the staff thought it fitting that he should take the “prize” home. I don’t remember what happened to that bird, but I do remember what we did with another “prize” Stephen brought home.

One unforgettable day, he came home with something unusual in his lunchbox, a piece of fruit he had found somewhere with funny looking worms crawling all over it. Stephen was so excited, thinking he had found a kind of caterpillar and we would soon have butterflies. Something felt a little “off” but nonetheless I helped him prepare a jar with holes in the lid for his find. Sure enough, a couple of days later the worms had made little cocoons (whose appearance also gave us some “off” vibes) around themselves and we settled in for the glorious wait. A wait that turned into something of a let down.

I was sitting at our dining room table typing a story for Voz en el desierto, the Christian magazine I contributed to for 14 years, when I happened to glance at the “butterfly” jar. Stephen was at school so I had the somewhat dubious privilege of being the one to witness the emergence of what turned out NOT to be beautiful butterflies. Instead of glorious beauties, out popped lowly houseflies.

We let the flies out of the jar when Stephen got home. Although I, like most others, held a repugnance for flies, I was loathe to kill these since we had formed something of an attachment. There must have been some kind of imprinting going on in their DNA because after being released they flew around my head for two or three days, I assume because I had been the first being they had laid their compound eyes on. During those few days, I walked around the house with an annoying halo of itsy bitsy buzzing flies. (I know, I know, disgusting, right?) Then … they disappeared. Stephen never brought “caterpillars “home again—but now I was prepared. No more being embarrassed for embracing the wrong kind of caterpillar. Now I knew the life cycle of the fly. Now I knew what maggots looked like.

In life, we are often confronted by enticing people, things, or events that seem to teem with wonderful possibilities. Only so many times they turn out to be no better than maggots. How in the world are we going to tell the difference? How are we going to know which are the fake and which are the real deal?

Isaiah 8:20 says, “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” When we don’t know if something is a maggot or a true caterpillar, God’s Word can shine the light on its true nature.

It always comes down to the Word. While the Bible explicitly says that every knee shall bow at the name of Jesus (Philippians 2:10), Psalm 138:2 says, “for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.” Every knee shall bow to Jesus’s name—yet He has exalted His Word ABOVE His name! God’s Word is the key to all things wonderful in this life!

Don’t be a maggot ignoramus like I was. Don’t make the mistake of harboring ugliness thinking that because we simply think it’s okay it will turn out hunky-dory in the end. Don’t go by “good vibes.” Good vibes is a phrase birthed during the hippie revolution, a modern term that is never, ever referenced in God’s Word. It is His truths that are laid out there for us, precept upon precept, line upon line. It is His truths that He has given to guide us in this life. So, friends, read the Bible to see what is and what is not His way!

There are times when each of us will be faced with things that are outside His prescribed path, yet things that to the natural mind seem innocuous. If right off the bat I had told Stephen to throw those wiggly worms away, he would have been cut to the quick. But we would have avoided the dejection of birthing yucky flies. Choosing what is right can come at a cost. It can hurt. But if something is not within the confines of God’s precepts, those laid out in His Word, it will always, always, always lead to horrible, unwanted results. We—you and I—will always end up with despicable flies.

As for me and my house, No more maggots for us! Now we know what they look like! We choose the good stuff—joy, peace, a happy home—all the components of the good life God intends for each of His children. God’s way, the choices He lays out for us in His Word, will always be the  best way.

“As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the Lord is tried: he is a buckler to all those that trust in him” (Psalm 18:30).