Be Careful

With less than two weeks to go before "Pace Yourself: 366 Devotions From the Daily Grind" is released, here is an excerpt originally written for May 1. Enjoy!



I saw tragedy strike today right before my eyes. It was dreadful. I may have nightmares about it. With no deviation to the right or to the left, he walked straight toward the edge. He went purposely as if on a mission. He did not hesitate nor did he slow his steady pace. And then, it was over as quickly as it had begun. He disappeared into thin air and fell to his death.

So just what was that caterpillar thinking? With all his little legs in full gear he plummeted into the pool, flailing just a bit before taking his last little bug breath. As I peered over the edge to see his floating body, he wasn’t alone. There on the surface of the water were thousands of drowned caterpillars. It was morbidly hilarious. The caterpillar nation must not have an early warning system to warn of imminent danger.

Then I noticed that much of the ground was moving. The hairy creatures were so ubiquitous that one had crawled up to my thigh on the inside of my jeans. Not realizing what it was, I scratched the “itch,” smooching its guts all over my leg. Yuk. It died alone. But incredibly, one after the other, multitudes plunged to their deaths. Maybe caterpillars are blind. Nothing else makes sense.

Despite the high casualty rate today, I expect the death toll to rise overnight. You know what they say: “Never underestimate the power of stupid people [or caterpillars] in large groups.” The mob mentality will leave me no recourse but to scoop them out and throw their remains unceremoniously over the fence.

As funny as this may seem, I can act just as unwisely as those caterpillars when I a) ignore my surroundings and b) follow the crowd. I must be more vigilant about what I think and how I behave.

“Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise.” (Ephesians 5:15)

Daily challenge: Let’s be careful where we are, what we do, and who we do it with.