How not to defend yourself against Dragon flies!

How not to defend yourself against Dragon flies!

               It was summer in Missouri.  When we visited someone, if there was water anywhere around, us boys would soon be in it. That sounds great until something bad happens. On this particular day, that something showed up!

We had gone to my uncles farm, outside of town. For some reason their kids were off somewhere, that left me alone. I knew where the pond was, so I went straight there. I never found anyone there, but I did find a long stick that was calling my name to pick it up. This usually produced a lot of adventure and entertainment, just seeing what critters I could annoy and stir up.

  The long stick was laying right by the pond. So, it was obvious, it had been used there already. But as soon as I picked it up, this giant, obese bad attitude dragon fly showed up and went zinging past my head! I didn’t see where it came from. But it sure got my attention.  I spun around to see where it had gone, but it had circled around and was coming back for another attempt at getting me! I had never seen a dragon fly act like that! They normally fly away when you stir one up.  But this one was having a bad day! So here it comes for round two! Flying straight at me! I swatted it with my hand, knocking it clear away. But again, it came right back! so I swatted it again! This time it went the other way. made a fast circle and came right back at me again.! Again, I swatted it. And again, it kept circling around and coming back! I don’t know how long this went on, but it was getting scary real fast! I had seen a lot of dragon flies, but never one this big and with an attitude to go with it! After a while I tried to just kill the thing. but no matter how hard I hit it, it just kept coming back!

Finally, I gave up! I decided this pond wasn’t big enough for the both of us, and decided to let him have it! So off I went toward the house. Still carrying this long stick. But that dragon fly was following me! it was getting faster and faster at its circling and attacks.  It narrowly missed my head several times!

 Now thing got serious! I dropped the long stick and ran for the house!  I hadn’t gone very far when I noticed the dragon fly had left! What a relief! nobody was going to believe me about having this big showdown with a dragon fly!  With my attacker gone, I stopped and looked carefully around. No sign of it! Where did it go? I slowly crept back toward the pond.  Keeping a keen eye for my attacker. But it was gone.  I reached the long pole, and picked it up.

               No sooner had I done so, when the dumb dragon fly returned! And again, the battle started with some serious swats, dodging and spinning! But this time I wasn’t taken by surprise and was determined to get my pond back from this itinerant bug!  But after a while, I was getting wore out! So I dropped the stick, I was prepared to kill this bug at all cost!

As soon as I dropped the stick, the dragon fly disappeared again! I was starting to get the memo, one stick equals one dragon fly. So why was the pesky bug so attached to the stick? It didn’t make sense. It left the pond and followed me this far, then stopped when I dropped the stick. You can cover a lot of ground when you’re fighting off a scary giant bug!

 Slowly I moved the stick. Nothing happened. I kicked the stick. Nothing happened. I slowly picked up the stick. BAM! The giant angry thing showed up again! I dropped the stick. The bug was gone. This was really bugging me! what did the stick have to do with anything! 

 So, for the last time, I’m determined to solve this mystery and get my territory back.  It would be very embarrassing to say, I got into a fight with a bug and lost! Picking up the stick very slowly, and looking for my victim, I saw it on the ground not very far away.  Here was proof, it was watching me pick up its favorite stick!  Then I noticed it moved only when I moved the stick! So, raising it very slowly, I saw it come off the ground awkwardly. Something’s not right here. It was then I made the astonishing connection between the dragon fly and the stick!

 The dragon fly was fake, the stick was somebodies’ pole, and the dragon fly was tied to the pole with a fishing line!

SO. All this time I was swatting this fake bug, tied by an almost invisible fishing line. That’s why it kept circling back! It was BAIT tied to a pole! 

               Well, it seems this fake bug caught a real sucker!  Did I feel stupid or what!  What was beginning to get weird suddenly turned very funny!  So, escorting my fake attacker back to the pond, I laid the stick back to where I found it.

This true event is funny to look back on. but at the time, there wasn’t anything funny about it.

That’s the way it works with most of our problems. We all have our dragonfly’s. Our battles.They seem so large, alive, and after us.  But down the road, we look back and wonder about it. What if I had done this: or done that?  It’s easy to look back and consider. But looking forward is a lot harder. It helps when struggling to look forward, to look up

Invite Jesus into the battle! remember your mistakes in the past! Don’t let it get the best of you! Don’t let it bug you or chase you off. This too will pass.  Time fly’s so quickly.  Don’t make a memorial out of your problems!  The problem is not good, but don’t make it worse by branding it on your forehead!  Hold steady, ask God for help, and let the situation pass.  Don’t let your problems become your identify.Then you can look back and say, with Gods help, we won!