I saw the strangest thing the other day. It had to do with a squirrel, a bird, and a snake, out in my back yard. (Sounds like the start of a bad joke!)

The first two are easy enough, but you might wonder where I’d find a snake this time of year. It is awfully cold, and in spite of our warm up the last few days it hasn’t been enough to coax any serpents out of the frozen ground. Doesn’t it always seem appropriate that a snake spends so much time buried under the earth, in a wacky sort of way? To think I have friends who say God has no sense of humor!

And yet, it’s a shame there’s not some “season of relief” from sin, a time when that old serpent of serpents was forced to leave us alone, to hibernate for a time. Instead, he slithers into our lives all year round. He causes so much pain, and makes so many empty promises.

I remember a story I read as a child in school about a snake, that a man had found frozen in the snow. He brought it home and put it by the fire to warm it up. Once it “recovered” it tried to bite the man’s son, so he cut its head off. The moral of the story then, which is still true today, is that when we embrace evil and bring it into our homes, even when we are full of good intentions, it is true to its nature and will still try to harm us. When we “overcome evil with good”, many times the evil itself is not changed, but we overcome it by not allowing its influence or fruits to extend into our lives. I can’t get away from evil, it is everywhere and I carry my own fair share of it inside me wherever I go – but if I am busy doing good I can keep it at bay.

Still, Satan is quick to goad people into doing the wrong things; but when folks find themselves in trouble and turn to him to help, all they are left with is a dry rustling skin, an imprint of his presence. He abandons people, the old liar, to face the consequences and shame of sin alone. We repent, we recover, we move on, yet the consequences still remain.

Our influence compromised. Shame. Loss. Trust broken. Time wasted, and opportunities thrown away. Sometimes physical things – addictions and the like, chinks in our armor. So many “snake skins” we may collect, reminders of our past dealings with the ancient evil one.

But even a snake’s skin has some value. We learn from them, we may even weave them into our lives to make ourselves stronger. We had a brush with one who would destroy us and he’s the one who got skinned! Even when Hester wore her “A”, through her hard work many came to see the A to represent “Able.” (If you have no idea who Hester is, brush up on your Hawthorne!)

Apparently there’s also a bit of nutritional value in snake skin – since my squirrel and bird friends were squabbling over a bit they’d found. I think they were going to eat it! I hope it didn’t give them indigestion. And now you’ve got the “skinny” on my strange backyard creatures!

Randy