I’m relaxing in a neighbor’s backyard, and she leans my lounging chair back to make sure I’m comfortable.
Then she exclaims, “Look! The delphinium!”
I turn to see the brightest blue flowers. What beauty! That blue shames even the sky.
Later, I learn that this plant’s beauty comes with a caution: it’s poisonous. It can actually kill a person if eaten.
Dr. Alice Russell, in the Department of Horticultural Science at North Carolina State University, reports that this gorgeous plant will cause “burning of the lips and mouth, numbness of the throat, intense vomiting and diarrhea, muscular spasms, paralysis of the respiratory system, convulsions.” Her list concludes with a toxic warning: Fatal.
All from a tiny blue buttercup. I think about the nature of temptation. It always seems tiny, harmless–beautiful even–that thing we want that’s outside the boundaries.
Remember the delphinium. It’s beautiful but fatal.
__________________________
Journal: What’s tempting me right now that’s really only going to damage my mind, body, and spirit?
0 Responses
I read your post on p31 and followed your link. It's amazing that which is so beautiful an tempting can be deadly all the same. The same truth applies in life.
Enjoyed your post…
I can be found at http://www.joantaylor.wordpress.com
Abundant Blessings,
Joan Taylor
“Beautiful but fatal”…I couldn't help remembering the film “Fatal Attraction.” True beauty may be skin deep as in the delphinium but real beauty is what it does, who it is (all of us) and how it loves one another. Thanks for the continuing insights.
So many of our choices look so good, but have adverse side effects. Great analogy!
Great lesson here Heather. The fruit in the garden looked very delectable too but God said it was deadly. Man ate it anyway and sin entered the world. This flower is gorgeous but deadly…makes us stop and think about what attracts us and what it will do to us if we take it into our life. Thank you for this good insight!
I get the metaphor, but I don't typically eat flowers. Just saying 😉