Wasp traps

Sunday in Young Women one of the girls taught a lesson about "Resisting Sin". She did an excellent job teaching and getting everyone involved. I was still thinking about the lesson on Sunday afternoon when I was sitting out on my deck. I happened to glance at the wasp trap that we have hanging by the bird feeders. It is full of dead wasps. Those pesky little guys are attracted to the sugar water and fly right into the trap where they can indulge themselves. Then the problem comes when they can not figure out how to get out. The openings are large on the outside but get smaller and smaller as the wasp flies in.

Sin is much like the sweet water in the trap. It looks & smells so so inviting that we want to indulge ourselves. We are bombarded daily with enticements that are like the inviting smell of the sugar water to the wasps. Like the wasps, the way "in" seems so easy that we don't realize we are trapped until it is too late!

I worry sometimes that the rules we try to live by in the church are seen as restrictions instead of as safety. We might try to get as close to sin as possible never realizing the moment when we are trapped. The wasps think they are safely enjoying a wonderful sweet drink until they try to get out. Then it is too late for an easy correction. I have seen a few, a very, very few, fly back out the little tunnel but so many more lie on the bottom of the trap. Of course the beauty of the gospel is that there is always a way out....it is called repentance. But the safest and surest spot for the wasps and for us is to stay outside the traps!

I read this quote in the Ensign (our church magazine for adults) by one of the former Presidents of our church Ezra Taft Benson. " When obedience ceases to be an irritant and becomes our quest, in that moment God will endow us with power." I love that quote. I'm going to make obedience my quest!