The Ivy

By Hally Franz –

Finally, spring has arrived! After a long and snowy winter, it’s a joy to feel warm breezes through open windows, pluck a dewy tulip from the garden, smell heavy piles of freshly-mowed grass, and experience the sensation of poison ivy when moist bumps pop up on winter-white skin. Rewind!

Yes, spring has sprung, and with it a variety of wonderful long-awaited pleasures. However, we forget all about THE IVY in the dead of winter.

My son worked for a landscaper friend of ours in April. They mulched beds and pulled weeds, and Ivan ended up with a nasty case of poison ivy. He’s had bouts with the vicious weed before, but this was his worst case to date, attacking his underarm and moving from there.

We treated the areas with anti-itch creams and drying lotions, which provided a bit of relief. However, after a solid week of scratching and spreading we called the doctor. He prescribed the big guns, a steroid to take care of the rash. Once the recommended dosage was gone, the situation was much improved, but it still took several days for it to disappear.

Poison ivy attacks without us knowing it. Many times we don’t recognize it or even see it in our environment. Some can sit right on it and be unaffected. Others are highly allergic to it. It may be a few bumps for some, but, for others, it may linger for weeks. Poison ivy seems more potent at the time of year when we may be most vulnerable, after months spent mainly indoors.

The sins in the world can be a bit like this wicked weed. I think about my children as they grow, and I wonder how they will handle the bad things they encounter in daily life. Will they recognize ungodly people and behaviors in their schools and community? Will they resist them, or will they be tempted to follow? If they fall, and they will at times, do they have the skills needed to leave a sinful pattern and grow in their faith?

I hope they do. Parents all hope for this. Perhaps our best defense against the disease of sin is to inoculate our children with a healthy dose of Christian faith, teach them to make wise decisions based on His word, and encourage them to come to us when they need aid.

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, please guide me in the rearing of my children and the teaching of all children in my circle, so that I will share with them Your word always as the guide for surviving the challenges they will face as they grow.

“He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way” (Psalm 25:9 NIV).