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Handling serpents
I was sitting on a chaise outside on my screened porch, reading the Christian Science Bible Lesson. The Lesson that week included the Bible story in which God commands Moses to cast his rod on the ground (see Exodus 4:2–5). Moses obeys and sees the rod become a serpent. He flees from the serpent, but God tells him to come back and pick it up by the tail. Moses does as commanded, and the serpent becomes once again a rod in his hand—and then his fear abates.
Just after reading this story, I looked up and no more than five feet in front of me, inside my screened porch, was a large snake staring right at me! I jumped up and told it, “No, no, you can’t be here!” I immediately ran into the house and locked the door. I looked out, and I saw the snake slithering along the floor until it finally squeezed itself out through a gap under the screen door and went back into the woods behind our home.
I gathered up my courage and went back outside to continue my study of the Bible Lesson. I wondered if there was a lesson for me in this experience. Were there any metaphorical serpents in my life that I needed to handle? I didn’t think so, but then it occurred to me that I was dreading a real estate business meeting later that week.
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