Tokens of Where You have been

The other day my wife and I walked into and through a short section of woods on the edge of our yard. We have about 100 feet of yard and then a short 20 foot section of woods. We were there looking at some new construction that is taking place on the property behind ours. As we did so we were reluctantly facing the reality that we will soon have new neighbors 150 feet or so behind our house. Thankfully there is, as I said, a small section of woods between our yard and the property being developed. It only took us a few seconds to pass through those woods, we looked around on the construction site for a few moments and then returned to our home.

On the way back I felt something itchy on my right side. Reaching down I found a bur, and I meticulously removed it. Sometimes you have to pull them out piece by piece. Then I found another, and another, and then a group of five or six of them. My first thought was how the fact they attach themselves so easily to us led to the development of velcro. The burs have small hooks on the end of them that can attach to almost anything. The plants with burs use animals to transport their seed pods to new locations to spread the species. There are things in this world that are trying to attach themselves to you, and they are very good at what they do!

Now for the spiritual lesson, I was amazed how so little contact could leave such a large and almost unnoticed deposit on me. This can happen both positively and negatively. In a few moments walk I picked up burs, dirt on my shoes, pollen on my clothes, and God only knows what else. I have a man in my church who almost died from a mosquito bite, how long do you think that interaction took? We can have things attach themselves to us in the briefest of moments, that can have long lasting effects. You think you can watch hours of TV and not be influenced?

On a positive note, we can also have things attach themselves to us when we are in places that are healthy for our spirit. One of my all time favorite quotes is the following: "It is only by waiting before the throne of grace that we become endued with the Holy Fire. He who waits there long and believingly will imbibe that Fire and come forth from his communion with God bearing tokens of where he has been." It always reminds me to be wary of bad burs and to earnestly seek Godly tokens of where I have been. What has attached itself to you? Keep your fire burning!