I can resist everything except temptation.
Maddening as it may seem, the little trials of life are all in all good lessons for our learning. Stumbling over a child's tricycle isn't fun. I can think of nothing good coming from it, except it's good that we didn't break a bone. There's a God on high that is watching over us. Why, we ask, isn't he taking better care of us? He is! He helps us to not break a bone when we fall from carelessness. It is careless of us to stumble over a tricycle in plain sight. No matter how we view it, God is there to take responsibility because we are his creation. But do not think for a moment God is not going to let us experience evil, because he will. It is to our benefit, as ludicrous as that sounds.
Two months ago, I tripped over a telephone cord in plain sight and broke my toe. I like to think I am a careful watchful person that can see where I am going. But, alas when it comes to telephone cords, which appear invisible to the naked eye, life can become endangered. I got entangled in said cord as I walked across the living room floor. Evidently, it was lying directly in my path. I fell against a folding chair, which ultimately tipped over and caught me in the ribs on my final decent.
I'm thinking Sue!, but whom do I sue, myself? I am able to get up, but I was tempted to kick the chair, so I kicked it hard: consequently the broken toe. The emergency room x-ray confirmed my suspicions. Returning home three hours later, I felt shame for my foolish actions. To ease my conscience, I repented of my doings, which didn't help me one bit physically: I still had the broken toe.
The cat in my home is also suspiciously invisible. I find out she lays in my path on purpose just to goad me into a fall. I have very cleverly avoided her little scheme so far. I try to be very careful, but someday I'm afraid she will be the cause of my downfall. Worse yet is the thought of what might happen if I fall on her. I pity the day.
A while back, I'd stepped on a catnip mouse hidden beneath a throw rug, which hurt my stocking clad foot. I was carrying a heavy bag of garbage on my way to the side door. I stopped, picked up the mouse, and put it in my pocket. I thought I would tease the cat with it later, and have a little fun with her. After I disposed of the garbage, I promptly forgot about the cat's toy.
That night, our cat Prissy had her own agenda while prowling through the house as usual. The catnip scent coming from my pants pocket overwhelmed her sense of ownership which evidently enraged her because she set up the loudest howl imaginable coming from a cat.
The whole household jump out of bed at the same time. Of course, by the time both the kids had gathered in the hall directly outside our bedroom door, the cat had disappeared and was nowhere in sight. We went back to bed, and not ten minutes later we heard her loud howling pierce the darkness again.
Where is that darn cat? my husband cried. I am going to skin her alive when I get my hands on her.
Before my husband and I could get back to sleep we heard Prissy purring very loudly, as if she were really happy with her surroundings. We bolted upright in bed, hoping to catch her this time. I flicked on my bedside lamp, which revealed Prissy nosing through my pants, which she'd pulled off the chair where I'd laid them for the night. We laughed at her antics and wondered what she thought she was doing. I then recalled the mouse I'd stuck in my pocket.
Suddenly she jumped on top our bed, nipped lightly at my bare arm, and darted off again, gathering her mouse in haste. She ran out the door and down the stairs, perhaps to resume the rest of her inspection of the house.
Come morning I found her curled up in her bed with her beloved mouse snuggly against her side. She was dead to the world. I was tempted to blow a blast horn, getting her out of bed by mimicking the consideration she had used for our sleeping family the night before. I didn't have a blast horn, but I managed to find a whistle, which worked nicely. She jumped straight up off her bed, which sent peals of laughter through my 13 year old son and me as we observed her surprise.
Our dog Timistry, long for Tim, is a different sort of creature all together from our cat. He is well-mannered and moves out of our way when we walk toward him through the house. He's never been the cause of a physical fall to any of our family, but because of his behavior, one day I did fall from his good graces.
We were having a cold wet spring, and Tim was having a time making up his mind where he wanted to be: inside or out. I was tempted to shut him outside at his next beg. So, in the next couple of minutes, sure enough he came over and started whining at the back door. I gladly put him out with sufficient explanation and warning.
Now the enclosed porch on the back of our house has a linoleum floor and a long rug down one side, running from door to door as a catch-all for dirt. A pet door installed at the base of the outside door keeps the pets protected from fowl weather like that day. I don't like to leave them inside when we leave the house.
This particular day the rain began falling during the time Tim had to stay outside. I had forgotten to unlock the pet door. Poor Tim began to whine and occasionally bark; I ignored him best I could, thinking he was snug and dry on the porch. By the time I discovered my mistake, he was shivering something terrible. I felt bad I'd been so hard on him. Of course, I didn't do it on purpose, but trying to convince him of that was impossible. For five days thereafter, every time I went near him, he bared his teeth and let out a low growl to warn me that I was not his favorite person.
My guilt got the better of me and I started baking for him. My family thought I had gone bonkers. I guess I had a little; he made me feel like a failure in the responsibility department. I bought cows' liver and dried strips of it in the oven for treats to feed my doggie. I found a recipe for 'Healthy homemade dog treats' on the Internet and busied myself making a batch. If he didn't like me after all this special treatment, I couldn't imagine what would win him over. But, as it turned out he did warm up to me and we are the best of friends today.
Our daughter Sierra Disarray had a pet turtle we'd rescued along the highway-one fortunate day for the turtle. She wrangled for days, giving her pet the right name. His/her name became Alli-short for alligator. We bought an old water tank designed for horses, which we'd planned to sink in the back yard for a flowerbed/rock-garden combination. My husband had not gotten around to sinking it so far this spring, so Sierra used it for her turtle at my suggestion.
One day while I was out shopping with the kids, David decided to surprise me by sinking the tank into the ground. I do not know what went through his mind when he discovered Alli in the tank; we had never said anything to him about it and therefore he had no idea this turtle was a pet. All I know is when we got home several hours later and discovered his surprise, panic struck Sierra and me.
All's well that ends well, the saying goes. It didn't look like this one was going to end well. I was tempted, even though I knew better, to dig to the bottom of this tank in search of Alli. I got all ready to go at the digging when Sierra came running from the far corner of the fenced yard, carrying her prized turtle. She went on a hunch that her daddy had just let him go, not knowing he was a pet. She was right. And, here I was being foolish, thinking I would find him at the bottom of the dirt, as if my husband had been so neglectful.
I never could bring myself to telling David how his surprise affected my thinking about his competence. I was ashamed of my reaction. I was tempted to stick my head in the sand just to see if my guilt would go away. I covered my guilt with a plan, which I felt would cause our relationship to grow. Boy was I wrong.
The ideas I believed about our relationship were pretty much a figment of my imagination. We were as strong in our marriage as a couple could get. Making those accusations about David's competence caused my confusion.
Our wedding anniversary is in December. Our fourteenth was coming up in two months. I imagined this celebration to be the one to save our marriage, from going sour, because I was going to save it. We needed a revival to strengthen our vows! My search for a building large enough to house one hundred and twenty people began right away over the next couple of days. I found a hall which met my expectations, and it was available for the week end of our anniversary. Plans began to escalate.
The night of our celebration arrived and all went very well until it was time the time of the renewal of our vows. This was a little secret I'd kept from my husband. He had no idea why we were doing this and he said, No. He felt like it would be unnecessary. Once was sticking well enough, he said.
Well this embarrassed me and I was tempted to leave in a fit of tears, which, I did. I definitely knew leaving was wrong and I definitely knew if I did leave I would be miserable, which I was.
In my reflections I've decided I will never learn. I will always give into my ill fated temptations. I will always know better than to do so, but nonetheless I will always do it just the same.
As it turned out David had a surprise for me, of his own. One, he couldn't let me miss in my hour of ill temper. He followed me to the car and told me he was sorry and asked me to come back inside. He said he would cooperate with me to make me happy. I trusted him and reluctantly followed him back inside.
David had planned to give me a huge diamond ring, but he couldn't let it be done on my terms as his surprise was something that meant more than any rededication service ever could. His gift to me spoke of continued union and dedication: unbroken through faithfulness to our spoken vows. We celebrated a truth that has followed us through the years.
Now as we are about to celebrate our fiftieth, we look back over our lives and marvel at all the wonderful times we have had together. We have learned many precious lessons, which strengthened our marriage. Happiness has followed our way through tough and good times.
We are both temped to go on living together for another fifty years. This is an impossible goal but a worthy one when life has given us so many good years.