Of Waterfalls and Butterflies

It was an elementary week of camp. If it had been a senior high week it would have been an excellent teaching moment. Even a middle school week would have been okay, but since it was an elementary week I had to store the experience away in my blogbank for later.

After my campers and I finished a swim at the falls we turned around for one last look at the waterfall. To our pleasant suprise we saw a big, beautiful butterfly - he flew from where we were standing towards the waterfall. It playfully flew closer and closer to our rather impressive waterfall.

Then, the waterfall consumed the butterfly. The campers were all devestated, and truly, it was a sad thing to watch. I went into counselor mode and pointed out a cool rock formation before anyone cried. Oh how I wish this had happened during a senior high week. ---I would have loved to expound to my senior high guys about lust. - It's so tempting and so easy to get sucked into! - It's a great analogy, and here it is for those of you who are reading this.

The butterfly going towards the waterfall seemed so normal. It went toward something beautiful - something God created to be very beautiful. I thought for a half second, "What if its wings get wet?" Then, its wings got wet and it couldn't fight anymore. It died at the merciless hands of a beautiful waterfall. So much like when a person gets trapped in lust.

I've seen a lot of my friends get sucked in by lust. I have a friend who molested a child. One friend just married a horrible person because he fell in lust and had to marry her first. One very close friend had an affair with a married man. Priests molest children, Safe Sanctuaries outweighs the Holy Spirit in decision making, Porn is always available, Statistically- signing a "virginity card" makes you more likely to have unprotected sex(they wait longer to have sex, but are not prepared - and are more likely to not wear protection and get disease when they do give in), and the idea of a 24 year old virgin is shocking.

The Waterfall looks so pretty ... and getting just a little closer would be fun ... and maybe a little closerrrrr..... (and death follows). Lust is so tempting for all of us, and if we feel that we can control ourselves from lusting we're wrong. I hope that I can set an example in purite. I mess up a good bit. I hope everyone knows that I'm not perfect and that lust is a struggle for me, too. Sometimes my sister thinks it isn't - and she's dead wrong. Sometimes the waterfall looks so pretty, and stepping a little closer just seems like the right option.