Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation;

Beware the Rattles

I had a dream last night in which I was being severely tempted by a yummy desert – hot apple pie with ice cream. The apples were covered in sweet cinnamon juices that caramelized on the crust. Two scoops of ice cream oozed into the juicy apple slices.  The aroma was almost too much to bear. “Take it away,” I said, “One bite of that and I will eat the entire pie along with the whole gallon of ice cream.  After that I will be so sick I won’t like myself anymore.”

I don’t know how long the dream lasted, but it seemed to take forever as my taste buds reacted and I salivated. “Take it away, take it away,” I repeated even as I reached for the pie. Remembering how sick I would be I withdrew the hand. Once I wiped a finger in the warm sweet creamy juices and brought it toward my excited mouth. “NO!”Common sense shouted.  

“Just a taste?” I argued.

“No!”

I inhaled the tantalizing fragrance up close and then with tremendous strength I slowly lowered my sinful finger to cleanse its self on a napkin. “Take it away.” My drooling mouth begged.

“You have feet,” CS insisted, “Walk away.”

Laboriously slow as thought restrained with heavy weights my feet took me away, further and further from the delectable dessert. Outside in open air I could still smell its cinnamon goodness. Yet, my terrified stomach ached from fear of actually being filled with food that would cause it pain. A vision of a rattlesnake popped into my head then. “Did you ever wonder why a rattlesnake has rattles?” CS asked as a cute little chipmunk paused to investigate the violently shaking rattles. Jaws unlocked and fangs showing the snake struck.

Temptations are so much like the rattles of a rattlesnake. We can be intrigued or warned – dead or saved spiritually speaking. Most of us have at some time been taught somewhat of the gospel. Even if we haven’t we are born with a knowledge of right and wrong the scriptures tell us. Science has proven that babies too small to talk respond appropriately to good and evil. As we grow older and begin to exercise our agency the line between the two grows dim. So dim in fact that evil sometimes becomes good and good becomes evil.

   In the garden of Gethsemane Jesus found the disciples sleeping and he said, “What, could you not watch with me one hour?  Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”