Foxes and Straw

..little foxes that spoil the vines, ...our vines have tender grapes. Solomon 2:15

It’s the straw that breaks the camel’s back. Common Proverb.

When those big bad things in life hit us, we can usually cope. We have probably seen it coming, and have prepared for it, at least mentally and partially. So we cope at least in our hearts. We all have examples where we have found the inner strength that helps us handle those big crises, and we attribute that to our God’s help, and rightly so.

But what about all those other small, insignificant, inconsequential irritations which beset us throughout our lives. They can be secular, or even in the church of God. They don’t really bother us for ages, and then one day we cannot rise under the combined weight of all that straw, and the final piece of that light dead grass is too much to handle. No more. We will not take it again. We stumble, and fall to the ground, just like the camel under a weight it now knows is too much to carry.

This is a health warning. We must beware of those little irritations which we put up with for so long. One of these days it might just become too much. One too many impositions, or irritations, or annoyances, or being ignored. All the other times have passed under the radar, and gone unnoticed by our friends, but this little straw now brings our feelings into the spotlight of the public eye. Cue comments from our friends like, ‘how did that happen?’ or ‘didn’t see that coming’ or ‘knew there was something about him/her, but couldn’t put my finger on it’, or ‘where did they go?’

It will happen at some point in our life, and if we are not the person with the extra  straw to carry, we will know someone who is. There are signs if we decide to look for them, or acknowledge their existence, so if you do happen to be aware of a straw, don’t ignore it, or your friend who is carrying it. You may not be one of the spoiling ‘little foxes’, but you could be the friend who will take and carry that final straw for your brother or sister, and stop the coming fall. Now that would be worth the effort, wouldn’t it?