Don't let yourself be ~ ooh, look!

"I will meditate on Your wonderful works"

Psalm 145:5

One of the things I love about homeschooling is that I generally read what my kids are reading.  Makes for easier discussion that way.  Some of the books I remember reading when I was in school, and it's fun to read them again, getting something new out of it, and being able to discuss it with them.

But other books are new to me.  Sometimes they're included in the curriculum we use, other times they've been recommended, so I read them, and then maybe have one or both of my kids read them.

One of these books that's new to me is a book about World War II.  It's called Number the Stars and it's by Lois Lowry.  It's about a Danish family living through the German occupation of Denmark.  The heroine, ten-year-old Annemarie, is best friends with a Jewish girl, and helps her best friend Ellen, and Ellen's parents, escape to Sweden, via Annemarie's Uncle Henrik's fishing boat.  {That was confusing; didja get all that?}

There was an interesting tidbit at the end, as the family escapes Denmark.  The Nazi soldiers were aware that Jews were being ferried across the Baltic Sea, so soldiers with dogs would frequently show up for unannounced inspections of the fishing boats.  The fishermen tried hiding their human cargo under false floorboards, and even covering the deck with fish, but the dogs could still smell the people even through the smell of fish.

And then somehow the fishermen discovered a clever trick to play on the soldiers.  The fishermen all brought their lunches from home, and the soldiers would callously "inspect" their lunches, and then feed them to their dogs.  So the fisherman start adding a handkerchief (to be used as a napkin, ostensibly) to their lunch baskets.  These handkerchiefs had been dipped in a little bit of rabbit's blood, and inside, there was a small amount of cocaine ~ coca leaves.  The rabbit's blood was to attract the dog to sniff further, and the cocaine would temporarily dull their sense of smell.  Then, as they explored the boats, they would not be able to react to the hidden Jews.

Isn't that amazing?  I'm fascinated by the cleverness, and I wonder how someone first discovered this.  Did the soldiers not know at all about the effects of the coca plant, or did it just not occur to them that this might be happening?  Where did the cocaine, or the coca leaves come from?  Does it grow in that part of the world?  I guess it's all part of how God worked in mysterious ways to enable people to do heroic things during a tragic time in history.

Attraction, followed by distraction.  It's a clever and successful ploy.   It's certainly a method I used when my kids were little.  A stubbed toe?  A little juice will do the trick.  Attracts the child, and then distracts them as the pain lessens.

But it got me to wondering how often our enemy "fools" us in a similar way.  Take something as similar as TV.  Sometimes it's attractive even when it's off!  The room that the TV is in has all the chairs facing that way, right?  So if you sit down in one of those chairs, even if you weren't planning on watching TV,  it's tempting you.  Pretty soon you decide to just "check and see what's on" and before you know it, you've wasted an hour.  And I'm pretty sure that's not what God wanted you to accomplish that day.

Now let's go even deeper.  What is God trying to work on, in your heart or in your mind?  What would He have you meditating on?  How would He like to commune with you?  If our minds are on Him, there's nothing He can't do.  He could give us glimpses into unfathomable mysteries, or gift us with unexpected theological wisdom, if we'd quit being distracted by "what movie should we see" and "they're both on sale; which one should I get?"  But instead we are attracted to something that dulls our thinking; numbs our hearts and minds.

Those dogs had a job to do, and responding to the distraction of those handkerchiefs kept them from being able to do it.  We can't let anything ~ no matter how attractive ~ distract us from Him.

~ "Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; 

meditate on it day and night, 

so that you may be careful to do everything written in it.  

Then you will be prosperous and successful."~

Joshua 1:8