When I share some of the crazy stories that come along with my blindness, my apparent lack of fear, and my seeming oblivion to things that can be dangerous, the snake is a great symbol for the things that plague my life. However...
In this case, the snake is not a symbol at all. There is a foot and a half long corn snake, named Copper, somewhere loose in my house. My 13 year old son, Zackery has had a pet snake for over a year now. Last night we discovered the snake is no longer in his habitat. Evidently my habitat is now his as well.
I have never been someone who is afraid of or doesn't like snakes. When I was a teenager I had a three foot King snake. When I was a senior in High School my science fair project involved milking rattle snakes. This little harmless corn snake shouldn't bother me.
Something about having to grope around my life in the dark with a reptile lurking silently nearby has seriously discombobulated me though. I choose not to live my life with fear because a little fear is like a little snake. The longer it stays, the bigger it gets until it finally takes over. Trying to deal with this tiny insipid being in my house has been a real struggle for me, though.
I learned a few things about snakes that are interesting and remind me why the symbol for Satan in The Garden of Eden was a serpent.
1-Snakes are cold blooded and therefore don't expend more energy than they have to. They are not proactive. They don't try to contribute to their surroundings. They aren't interested in anything that isn't nearby and annoying them.
2-Snakes will seek out only two things: a source of instant power for heat, and a source of food and or water. They will protect themselves against other predators but their motivations for seeking shelter, an environment, even a resting place are centered around their two immediate needs.
3- They are silent, patient, innocuous creatures unless you cross into their territory. Once there they only have to believe that you are a barrier to their needs and they will not hesitate to strike.
Notice how many Good things in the world share these tiny, snakelike characteristics:Books, movies,music, the internet, the media, and even seemingly harmless groups of people who will suddenly participate in a mob mentality.
Most things are full of knowledge, goodness, light, and love. But one insipid, silent, mostly harmless serpent lurking in the language, the message, the motivations, or the intentions of good people turns to a nest of writhing, rattling, killers when evil waits, seemingly docile, benign, and unseen at the edge of the light.
As we allow doubt, anger, fear, and blame to take hold in our minds and hearts we step out of the light. Once we let the thinking of men trump the wisdom of God we are in the dark groping for something, hoping not to come up with a fistful of scales and a set of fangs in our flesh.
I've decided that I'm not afraid of the snake crawling around my house. I want to find him and put him back in his terrarium, but I don't fear his presence. In fact he will be caught in the snare of his own insidious nature if I turn down the heat upstairs and leave a light on for him. Pray for me that I can catch him, mostly for Zack's benefit. He loves Copper. More importantly though, pray for the serpents of evil in this world that they will crawl under a rock for protection, because the light will eventually be they're undoing.
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