Oh, for some reason I cannot upload pictures today. Sorry.
Mitchner once wrote, “[God] added the mosquito to remind man that no paradise comes free – there are always mosquitoes.”
Thus us this poor little creature much maligned. They are often considered the scourge of the earth save for those birds and frogs that take much delight on dining on them. If there is no God, I would much agree with this lowly assessment of this creature. Except that they have a solid place in the food chain they could be considered horrid little freaks of nature whose sole purpose is to ruin late night romantic starings at the moon and hiking trips. Why should they be? So many more pleasant things could and do exist. Why should uncaring, unthinking nature evolve them? As Michner wrote they exist only to destroy any Shangri-La that we cannot soak in deet. They are a mistake.
But if there is a God, what a wonderful thing a mosquito is! They are proof that we have a generous, loving, and intelligent God who loves life lavishly! Imagine if you were God for a moment – loving life and creation and trying to create as much life in the world as you possibly could. Might you not develop a creature that can live on some of the life of another creature that already had life in abundance? The mosquito lives off of that life we have that fills our cup and runs over into our laps.
But it could not be allowed to run unchecked. What if we felt nothing of the mosquito’s lust for our sanguine elixir? We might be sucked dry and wake up in the bossom of Abraham instead of our sleeping bag. Or worse yet! What if it felt good? There would be mosquito bars! Drivers would have to take a blood level test before driving for fear that they would pass out while driving from lack of blood in their veins! We would have cultivated larger and more hungry super mosquitoes and sell them to miscreants on the streets who would have back alley mosquito parlors where flashy men with more money than taste would send customers into a room with the vampirish beasts occasionally having a body to dispose of in the river from a john that had a little too much of his life taken from him.
But that is not the case! The little beasts sting and leave welts. And they are not cute and furry like a puppy so that we coax them to come around and train them to bring our slippers. Rather, like Fagan they pass through our town trying to steal a little hear and a little there until SWAT! their little marauding escapades are over.
Thus are we kept in balance – one creature benefitting from our wealth of life and they kept in check by the swatter and anti-bug spray. Now, I am not saying that knowing this we should like them any more than we do – or that we should let them have what they want – WWJD? I believe Jesus would swat mosquitoes – but we can come to appreciate them a little more as signs of God’s great love of life. And if paradise does have mosquitoes – fortunately we will have glorified bodies – and so will they and the as the lamb lies by the lion, the mosquito will by the human.
Thus us this poor little creature much maligned. They are often considered the scourge of the earth save for those birds and frogs that take much delight on dining on them. If there is no God, I would much agree with this lowly assessment of this creature. Except that they have a solid place in the food chain they could be considered horrid little freaks of nature whose sole purpose is to ruin late night romantic starings at the moon and hiking trips. Why should they be? So many more pleasant things could and do exist. Why should uncaring, unthinking nature evolve them? As Michner wrote they exist only to destroy any Shangri-La that we cannot soak in deet. They are a mistake.
But if there is a God, what a wonderful thing a mosquito is! They are proof that we have a generous, loving, and intelligent God who loves life lavishly! Imagine if you were God for a moment – loving life and creation and trying to create as much life in the world as you possibly could. Might you not develop a creature that can live on some of the life of another creature that already had life in abundance? The mosquito lives off of that life we have that fills our cup and runs over into our laps.
But it could not be allowed to run unchecked. What if we felt nothing of the mosquito’s lust for our sanguine elixir? We might be sucked dry and wake up in the bossom of Abraham instead of our sleeping bag. Or worse yet! What if it felt good? There would be mosquito bars! Drivers would have to take a blood level test before driving for fear that they would pass out while driving from lack of blood in their veins! We would have cultivated larger and more hungry super mosquitoes and sell them to miscreants on the streets who would have back alley mosquito parlors where flashy men with more money than taste would send customers into a room with the vampirish beasts occasionally having a body to dispose of in the river from a john that had a little too much of his life taken from him.
But that is not the case! The little beasts sting and leave welts. And they are not cute and furry like a puppy so that we coax them to come around and train them to bring our slippers. Rather, like Fagan they pass through our town trying to steal a little hear and a little there until SWAT! their little marauding escapades are over.
Thus are we kept in balance – one creature benefitting from our wealth of life and they kept in check by the swatter and anti-bug spray. Now, I am not saying that knowing this we should like them any more than we do – or that we should let them have what they want – WWJD? I believe Jesus would swat mosquitoes – but we can come to appreciate them a little more as signs of God’s great love of life. And if paradise does have mosquitoes – fortunately we will have glorified bodies – and so will they and the as the lamb lies by the lion, the mosquito will by the human.
5 comments:
ROFL!
I'm just glad one of our huge MN mosquitos never carried Baby Jesus away while He slept....
Can you IMAGINE how that would change our theology if He'd given all his blood THAT WAY?
Loved the part about what would happen if mosquito bites felt good. Our human nature, damaged by original sin, takes things that feel good and abuses them.
I'm trying to work out in my mind what inspired this post. Have you been bitten recently?
Some years ago, I inadvertantly, whilst in the garden, put my hand in a wasps' nest. They attacked. It did not feel good. And I certainly did not thank Noah for saving those two creatures when he had them in his hands - or in a jam jar, or whatever.
I enjoyed your post.
God bless.
Victor, my reaction was the same: "Where did THIS come from?" Some great lines, too: "sanguine elixir" cracked me up.
I wish I could tell you where it came from but it was rather out of blue. . .
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