Scars and Squirrels

The Bible is pretty clear that we should not hate anyone, but I hope squirrels are excluded. I was twelve when my good friend and neighbor, Billy, and his family adopted a baby squirrel and named him Alvin. He grew up and they fed him, held him and he ran around their house like a dog. But one day in their carport he pranced up to me and I stuck out my hand so he could sniff me. I don’t remember eating peanuts that day, but I do remember Alvin’s yellow teeth chomping my poor little pinky finger and his entire body shaking as he tried to bite harder. Years later I can still show you my scar (if you have a good imagination) and I will not turn my back to a squirrel.
It is scary how much damage a mouth can do, some people live their whole lives scared from mouths, and they may not have even been bitten. The wounds that hurt the worst are from what someone said. That is why God warned us that our tongues are dangerous weapons. We have the power in our mouth to point people toward God or to turn them away from God completely. Our tongues can cut people very deeply and those wounds are hard to heal and even harder to forget.
So the next time we start to say something we should not, maybe we should think about the damage that we are about to do and the scars we are about to leave. And the next time you see that squirrel playing in your yard, be warned that he may be eying your “finger food.”