Just A little Pepper Adds A Lot Of Flavor 7/18/2020

Good Morning,

My day began with prayer for a friend of ours who fell yesterday and had to take a trip to the hospital for some care. I really like to pray but it's a hard thing to hear when someone you love needs prayer because of an accident. Praise the Lord she is going to be alright.

Psalm 101:3 I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless. I hate the work of  those who fall away; it shall not cling to me. 

I did a dumb thing yesterday and I am ashamed to admit it. It was stupid and I should have known better. But there is a lesson to be shared here. Our vegetable garden is starting to take off in a good way. My wife Rene and I planted a variety of pepper plants this year hoping that the tomatoes, peppers, fruit and cilantro plants would be able to combine later this summer into some zesty salsa. So there was a variety of peppers planted. They range from sweet peppers to some blazing hot peppers. I forgot when planting these peppers to label them. So except for color I cannot tell what these miniature pepper buds are, Once they have grown some more I should be able to tell what all the green ones are.

But yesterday as I was examining the growth progress on all the little green pepper buds I noticed one tiny little bud was not looking too good. I pulled it off and put it in a bag I was using to throw away leaves from the flowers and vegetables that had received some storm damage a few days ago.

A few minutes later a drop of sweat rolled down my forehead and deposited itself right into my eye. It was a perfect shot! I used my index finger on my right hand to wipe away the salty sweat bomb. That's when I discovered that the tiny pepper bud was one of the hot peppers I planted. I assumed it was a sweet bell pepper. That pepper bud had leaked a little juice onto my finger. My eye started to burn and tear up like there was a five alarm fire in it. Once your eye gets messed with, your nose begins to run and it also triggered a quick run to the kitchen for a rinse job. Hurrying into the kitchen caused me to slip and bang my hand on the granite counter top. Calamity hit with just one drop of pepper juice.

Here's the lesson for today. Just a drop of that juice was enough to "season my eye" in a big way. So as the pepper juice needed to be washed away after it caused some pain, some of the things we allow our eyes to see aren't good for us and they can have a lasting impact. They need to be washed from our life.

Some men, women and now teenagers have discovered internet porn which has a whole slew of consequences like sex trafficking, degrading of the mind and in some instances bodily harm as well as debt. In some instances it might have started with just watching some "juicy episodes" of a television show that was best left un-watched. But just a little juice started a whole bigger problem. One that can ruin lives, marriages and more.

Here is what I learned.  Be careful as to what gets to your eyes at all times. Just a little is sometimes way too much.

God bless,

Marty