Foolish Flies

"Hey, look at this weird plant!" called Andres as he and his fellow campers made their way around the swamp."Hmm," murmured Mr. Pete, the counselor. "That's called a pitcher plant! It's one of North America's most interesting insect-eating plants.""What are all those flies doing down in there?" asked one of the boys as they crowded around and peered into a cluster of leaves."That plant has caught them for food," Mr. Pete explained. "It produces a substance--kind of like nectar--that attracts insects. They can easily enter the opening at the top of the leaves, but the sides are slippery and have thousands of tiny hairs that all point downward, and the flies can't get back out.""So they drown in that pool at the bottom, I guess," remarked Andres. "Those flies think they're getting something good, but instead they get stuck."Mr. Pete nodded. "That can happen to us too. Sinful things can often look good to us, but they will only harm us if we give in to them. I know that first-hand. When I was a teenager, I started using illegal drugs because I had a lot of tough things going on in my life and I thought they'd make me feel better, but instead I got stuck and became addicted. They only made things worse.""What happened then?" asked one of the boys."My parents sent me to a special hospital to help me get better. It helped a lot, but I still struggled with addiction for a long time after that.""I'm never trying drugs," Andres declared. "I hope and pray you won't," said Mr. Pete. "Like all sin, doing drugs will never lead to anything good--sin can only hurt us." He looked down at the flies stuck in the liquid at the bottom of the plant. "Sometimes it's hard to say no to something we know is wrong, but God urges us to come to Him for help. Jesus saved us from sin, and He gives us the power to resist it. We don't ever have to give in--and if we do, He offers us forgiveness and healing." As he spoke, they heard a buzzing sound. A fly was circling the pitcher plant, drawing a little closer with each pass.-Lorna B. Marlowe