Racing The Deer
Every spring I face the challenge of racing the deer that live in the woods nearby. If I win, I get to enjoy the colorful tulips in my yard. If they win…no tulip blooms.
I’m sure the deer stop by ever dawn to see how the tulips are coming. If I think, “Tomorrow they should open,” I can be guaranteed the tender bloom will be gone, with just a stark stalk standing to show where the bloom should be.
Many of the solutions offered don’t seem to work, but there is one that does: surrounding them with a liberal sprinkling of bloodmeal. There’s one problem. I can’t stand the smell of bloodmeal. Being anywhere near it literally makes me sick to my stomach. So I put it off as long as possible, and sometimes find the deer have won the race to one or more of my tulips.
I have a choice. I can do the hard thing to save my tulips, or I can let the deer have them. The other day it hit me that I have a similar problem in letting the blood of Jesus protect me. Sometimes it takes too much effort to surround my heart with a focus on God’s saving grace, and the enemy sneaks in and messes with it. I have to keep reminding myself that if I have courage to do something unpleasant to keep deer away from my tulips, I certainly need to be unrelenting in surrounding myself with the blood of Jesus so he can keep the enemy from destroying me. The race is worth it!