Snake in the House

There was chaos in the Thweatt back yard Tuesday night. We were sitting outside watching the grandsons play and suddenly two blue birds started going crazy. I knew it had to be a snake and Kim saw a tail going through the hole of the bird house.

I grabbed the fire poker we have by our fire pit and tried to get it out…started by hitting the sides, the top, the bottom, stuck the poker in the hole, but outside of tearing the house apart there he wasn’t budging. I even squirted water from the hose, but he or she wasn’t budging. The parents watched us, flew down and fluttered in front of the hole, but it was over. After about an hour the guilty snake slid out and went on its “full” way.

To be honest, I know the snake was just being a snake, but it was heartbreaking to watch the birds…we have watched them build the nest and make countless trips back and forth feeding the babies and they just couldn’t do anything, and neither could we.

Wednesday morning, I sat outside reading my Bible and the parents were back, flying down, looking in the hole, but they knew they were gone. It got me thinking about another snake who came into a Garden and ruined everything.

Unlike the baby blue birds, our grandparents were not helpless, and unlike the blue bird parents our God was not helpless, but they kept their eyes on the snake and listened to his lies and forgot the beauty of the Father and His commands.

The thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy. How many times do we cuddle with the snake thinking he will satisfy? How many times do we look away from Beauty and Glory and get bedazzled by the eyes of the destroyer? Has the snake ever really brought satisfaction? Maybe moments of happiness, but never true joy. His moments are followed by years of shame and regret.

I’m going to change the bird house situation in our back yard this winter. I’ll put up some higher poles and do some other things, but ultimately, the snake will always be the snake, but the Father will be the Father and we must keep our eyes on Him.

George Herbert said,

“If Thy first glance so powerful be,

A mirth but open’d and sealed up again,

What wonders shall we feel,

When we shall see Thy full-eyed love?”

The glances I share with the Father are marvelous. Can you imagine a “full-eyed love?” It will be like the “delight more than a thousand suns disbursed in light in Heaven above.”

(Note about picture…not from Tuesday and not same snake, but maybe his brother or sister on the same birdhouse from a few years ago!!)