"...[T]he little foxes, that spoil the vines..." (Song of Solomon 2:15).
We did not have little foxes on the farm that I can remember. We did not have vines either. The equivalent of this on our farm was raccoons and corn.
I used to feel bad for my father. We would arrive at a cornfield to pick corn at the perfect time, only to find that raccoons had gotten there a day or two before. The raccoons would walk down the rows of corn and take one bite out of each ear. One bite! I am serious. Customers would not buy an ear of corn that had one bite taken out of it. Sometimes great portions of field were ruined by these little rodents.
In life it is usually the little things that take their toll on us. We rely on God when we face the “big issues,” but often try to combat our little battles in our flesh: impatience when the light turns green; a character flaw we see in a child or fellow employee; A little “irritant” who comes to the church or calls us up “all the time”; lukewarm coffee served; etc. It is amazing how unchristian we can become over little things.
A stunned husband of three years sat across from a counselor trying to figure out why his wife divorced him. Upon interviewing her, the counselor found that her husband had made a habit of saying at least one “little” negative thing about his wife each day. After three years, the insults were well over one thousand. She could not take it anymore.
To help the husband understand, the counselor asked how he would like to get hit with a baseball bat once a day for three years. The husband got the point – too late.
Little foxes and raccoons may seem cute in Disney cartoons, but in reality they are destructive spoilers. Get rid of them.
