DON'T LIVE WITH PEST

DON’T LIVE WITH PEST

PEST: a destructive insect/animal that attacks crops, livestock, food etc. harmful to humans or human concerns or an annoying person or thing/nuisances.

PRACTICE: Name your pest.

I have experience with both kinds. I am certain that people, insects and animals think of me as both.

On a visit to a gardening shop, I became captivated by an unfamiliar variety of elephant ear (Colocasia esculenta). The leaves resemble a fancy teacup and will hold water. The first rainstorm after the lovely specimen was potted alerted me to a potential hazard– standing water. Add heat and create the perfect setting for breeding of mosquitoes – fortunately I also planted a citronella plant, a natural repellent for mosquitoes. It wasn’t the mosquito that ultimately caused damage to the plant. Aphids did that job – so many appeared that I considered putting the plant and soil in the trash. After trying every home remedy that I knew, a commercial grade natural pesticide did the job. With one application, the appearance of the plant improved. It was given a second chance. I wanted the plant. It accessorized the deck nicely. I didn’t want aphids.

The annoying persons/nuisances in my life are not as easily eradicated. They can be family members, friends, or co-workers. To spray them with the pesticide of distance or rude words is to risk endangering other relationships – to upset my personal ecosystem. However, there are times in order to preserve my emotional wellbeing, I need to make a definitive decision to live with or without my pest.

Flip the script – I am imagining myself as the pest. I love the outdoors and go to great lengths to rid my space of mosquitos. I am in their environment – wonder if they see me as the pest or just a tasty meal? The aphids were being aphids… joyfully sucking the life juices out of the teacup elephant ear. That is their function in nature’s ecosystem. My disruption of that earned me the label of pest.

To those in my life that I find annoying, could it be that my attitude toward them or something else indeed makes me their pest? Could their “annoying behavior” be their homemade pesticide for me? An examination of me might be in order.

In our personal ecosystems, we can be the elephant ear (juice of life being sucked out) or the aphid (sucking the life out of others) or the pesticide which was life saving for one and death for the other. Either way, you don’t have to live with pest.

Ephesians 4:29

PONDER THIS THOUGHT--- Self-examination in any relationship challenge is a good start.