February 9

”Catch the foxes for us, the little foxes that spoil the vineyards, for our vineyards are in blossom.” (Songs 2:15)

On a beautiful summer day I walked out into the yard and discovered that the roe deer had eaten absolutely every flower in front of our house. The pansies, which the day before had been so beautiful, were now bare stalks, and on the roses, that had been so splendid, only the leaves were left. It was devastating, but still I had a strong hope that within short, new flowers would flourish again.

A few days earlier however, in another flower bed in the garden, a small invisible bug had ravaged and caused just as much, if not worse damage. This bug ate the leaves from underneath and created large unsightly holes in them. You could barely see them. You just saw what it had laid waste.

It is not always the” big” sins in life that causes us to fall. “The little foxes”, which are ravaging in our lives often cause great devastation. I think of things like negative thinking causing our bad temper in the morning hours, that suddenly has become a bad habit, the irritation because of some fellow person. We easily ignore those little foxes, but if we allow them to stay in our lives they will destroy us. Let us confess and receive purification for all those “little sins”, which sneak up on us almost without us noticing them

Prayer
Lord, help me to catch the small foxes – sins, which try to sneak up on me and destroy my life. I want to live purely and holy today. Help me to weed out everything that doesn’t please You.