Hi, all. Just a thought to help start your weekend.

How observant are you? Do you haphazardly drive the road or walk the areas of your life without much regard for what is happening around you? Or, do you make it a point to pay attention to your surroundings, your world, and the people in it? Do you proverbially take time to stop and smell the roses?

This flower obviously isn’t a rose. It is, however, a beautiful flower with bright colors. Against the backdrop of dried out leaves and sticks, it certainly stands out. Because this flower was one of a very few blooming beside a walkway I was using, I noticed it. I stopped and took this picture. But I must confess that I wasn’t really looking at the flower itself.

Look closely and what do you see? If you lean in to see the beauty, take a quick sniff, and enjoy the flower with no regard to what else is happening, you have a very good chance of being stung by a fat little bumblebee whose work you are interrupting.

We live in a world of God’s beauty. We live in the greatest country on earth. You may even believe your state and/or community is the best there is. I have no intention of bursting your bubble. I just want to remind us that the dangers of this world are just as prevalent as the benefits.

Satan is alive and well and looking for ways to attack us. He sometimes hides in plain sight, perhaps in the very beauty around us, and we ignore him because we just aren’t paying attention. Does that mean we have to walk around scared of what might bite us? Certainly not. But be aware.

I didn’t have to stand near those flowers very long before that bumblebee had finished his buzzing around and had gone on to another flower bed. The danger had passed. One of my most favorite phrases in the Bible is, “And it came to pass.” Trouble didn’t come to stay. It came to pass.

If in the beauty of your wonderful week a fat little bumblebee buzzes, be patient. It came to pass. Sometimes the best way to stay out of Satan’s plans for your week are to simply ignore him, his ugly work, and let him be. Don’t swat at him and stir him up. Remember that the flower upon which the bee perches is so much bigger than the bee itself. God will prevail.

Don’t let Satan keep you from enjoying the Lord’s beauty.

Just a thought. ’Til later.

Brad Campbell can be reached at mastah.pastah@yahoo.com.