"No, Sis, I'm not gonna burn that tree down. But, I'm gonna get rid of those web worms. See how they're crawlin' around in that web they've woven?"
"But, Daddy, that'll hurt those little worms and 'sides that, you're gonna burn that rope on my swing and I won't be able to swing anymore."
" We have to get
rid of these nasty webworms 'cause they're gonna eat all the leaves off
this walnut tree and it might just die and then you sure enough wouldn't
have a swing. Now, you go stand over on the breezeway so one of these
webs won't fall on you, okay?"
I was in tears as I watched my daddy tie a big old rag around a long metal pole; pour some kerosene on it; climb up on a ladder and then light the rag and begin setting the webs on fire. I could just see that tree going up in flames.....my swing and all.
Seeing the myriad amount of web worms enveloping so many trees this fall brought to mind that time when I was about seven years old and I watched my daddy try to rid our walnut tree of those nasty worms.
Who knew that those ugly, fuzzy, wiggly worms were actually the larva of a beautiful white moth.......certainly not I. That beautiful, white moth lays her eggs on the underside of leaves in 'hair'-covered clusters of a few hundred. When they mature in about a week, they begin to devour the leaves.
I'm reminded of Genesis 3:1(TLB) :" The serpent was the craftiest of all the creatures the Lord God had made. So the serpent came to the woman. “Really?” he asked. “None of the fruit in the garden? God says you mustn’t eat any of it?”
I don't believe that the serpent appeared to Eva as a slimy snake crawling on his belly because it was only after Adam and Eve partook of the forbidden fruit that God put a curse on the serpent saying he would forever crawl on his belly. I believe the serpent was possibly walking upright and appeared to them as a very nice looking being because, after all, he was a fallen angel.
Satan can appear beautiful just as that white moth. Yet, the destruction that follows can destroy mankind just as the moth's larva can destroy the beauty of a tree.
"Be careful—watch out for attacks from Satan, your great enemy. He prowls around like a hungry, roaring lion, looking for some victim to tear apart." 1 Peter 5:8(TLB)
I was in tears as I watched my daddy tie a big old rag around a long metal pole; pour some kerosene on it; climb up on a ladder and then light the rag and begin setting the webs on fire. I could just see that tree going up in flames.....my swing and all.
Seeing the myriad amount of web worms enveloping so many trees this fall brought to mind that time when I was about seven years old and I watched my daddy try to rid our walnut tree of those nasty worms.
Who knew that those ugly, fuzzy, wiggly worms were actually the larva of a beautiful white moth.......certainly not I. That beautiful, white moth lays her eggs on the underside of leaves in 'hair'-covered clusters of a few hundred. When they mature in about a week, they begin to devour the leaves.
I'm reminded of Genesis 3:1(TLB) :" The serpent was the craftiest of all the creatures the Lord God had made. So the serpent came to the woman. “Really?” he asked. “None of the fruit in the garden? God says you mustn’t eat any of it?”
I don't believe that the serpent appeared to Eva as a slimy snake crawling on his belly because it was only after Adam and Eve partook of the forbidden fruit that God put a curse on the serpent saying he would forever crawl on his belly. I believe the serpent was possibly walking upright and appeared to them as a very nice looking being because, after all, he was a fallen angel.
Satan can appear beautiful just as that white moth. Yet, the destruction that follows can destroy mankind just as the moth's larva can destroy the beauty of a tree.
"Be careful—watch out for attacks from Satan, your great enemy. He prowls around like a hungry, roaring lion, looking for some victim to tear apart." 1 Peter 5:8(TLB)
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