Recently we went to an outdoor wedding.
I got to talk with friends I haven't seen in awhile.
While talking at a table with one lovely friend,
a praying mantis seemed to fall from the sky right onto her shoulder.
She swatted it away but before long, it reappeared on the back of her chair.
I flicked it away.
Like, seriously,
took aim with my finger
and flicked it right in the face.
It was out of character for me,
and kind of gross because it took a few times
to get it to release its grip and fall away.
But I'm no hero,
my friend casually flicked it away
like it was NO. BIG. DEAL.
I forgot all about it until days later when I was outside watering my flowers.
I didn't see a praying mantis,
but I remembered the one I saw.
I wasn't sure why so I went inside and did a little research on them.
Up until then, I would've thought the praying mantis was relative to the butterfly,
a beautiful, peaceful creature thinking calm thoughts
as it hangs out on a screen door
looking to be spiritual.
They sit in wait,
ready to pounce at any moment,
with those Popeye legs folded
in a praying like posture.
They feed on moths, crickets and grasshoppers
but they will also eat birds (?!)
and the female has been known
to eat the male after mating.
Their closest relatives are termites and cockroaches.
No butterflies in that family tree, not even twice removed.
So their reunions must be fun…
As I looked through the images, it struck me how,
after reading of their strength and strategy,
they looked more like a boxer ready to fight
than a creature of peace ready to pray.
I've been pondering that…
how I underestimated the praying mantis.
Prayer is our weapon for battle, for sure.
It might seem to others to be a peaceful,
passive action,
but it can be powerfully explosive and active.
Especially to the enemy.
I've heard Priscilla Shirer say that when we put on the armor of God, it's prayer that activates it.
It's why some call their prayer areas at home war rooms.
We need to remember to pray.
In the opposite school of thought,
I've been pondering how the praying mantis
is an example of how things aren't always what they seem.
Sometimes what seems like an innocent praying creature falling from the sky onto our shoulder isn't that at all.
It's the enemy with its fists up ready to attack if we aren't ready.
Or willing to notice.
It will keep coming for us
until we flick it right in the face
sending it sailing away.
Now, that might sound overdramatic, but things beyond flesh and blood usually are and it's when we are laughing them off or underestimating their strength that they crawl back and sit on the chair behind us waiting to prey on us.
We need to remember the enemy.
It's when we remember
that we can recognize it.
And casually flick it off our shoulder
because
we know who
and what it is.
It's when we rest in the ignorance that our enemy is related to a butterfly instead of a stone cold killer of birds and boyfriends that we find ourselves in trouble.
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