The Snake

When I was in high school I attended seminary. If you don't know what seminary is it is a block of your school time that is "released time" where you go to a different building and learn different doctrines of the gospel with other students who share your religion. In areas where my religion is not as dominate seminary is usually held in the morning before school starts, I doubt I would have ever made it if that was the case for me. I took institute part because it was expected and part because I wanted to, I'm not certain what part is bigger of the two.

Seminary was actually a pretty good time and the majority of the teachers made it worthwhile. One of the main things I remember about it was the movies we had to watch. The day before Thanksgiving we watched one about people that lived in a hole, I honestly don't remember the story line or the purpose of it. Right before Christmas break we watched one about Mr, Krueger's Christmas, not the bad-A from nightmare on Elm Street, but about a sad, old, lonely man. What I want to share was the movie that has and always will stick in my head.

Spare my lack of details if I get some of it wrong but it's been a while. This movie was about a boy and a rattlesnake.
The rattlesnake looked so nice and friendly to the boy. He kept begging the boy to pick him up. Even though the boy knew he shouldn't pick him up he eventually did because of how tempting the snake made it seem. Well, as expected as soon as him picked up the snake the snake bit him. The boy was hurt, sad and crying, he finally was as to ask the snake why he did that to him. The snake snidely responded, "You knew what I was before you picked me up."

There has been so many times that I have had a "snake" like that in my life. I will eat a HUGE piece of cake and then gain weight. I knew it was fattening cake before I ate it so I shouldn't have been surprised. Or I will hang out with a person who has no good intentions and will be brokenhearted when it all goes wrong, even though I knew what they were "before I picked them up". I have laid out and sunbathed more times in my life than imaginable so when I had to get skin cancer removed from my stomach, it shouldn't have been a surprise. I knew what I was doing, I knew what kind if chance I was taking by not lathering the sunscreen on.

There are so many cases of this is many of our lives, and if you are anything like me you will pick up the stupid snake countless before a lesson is stuck in your head.

I don't know why that has been in my head so much lately. I have had a lot of people tell me that they admire what I do or how I have handled being a single mom. I am not someone to look up to. I knew what I was doing, I knew it was a "snake" that wasn't right or good for me yet I did it anyways, that is by no means admirable. Sure, there are a plethora of people who have done what I did and didn't get dealt the repercussions I did. They also didn't get the blessings I have either... I guess my post today is stay away from the "snakes" in your life, whatever they be, and if you can't and they bite, handle that bite as best as you possible can.

XO
Ashlynn&Boston BRONSON