The Lizard In My House

People talk about the skeleton in the closet. That picture\’s quite creepy. I mean, imagine opening your closet to find a disembodied skull staring at you out of empty sockets like…uh…ahem…sorry that\’s beside the subject. I want to tell you about a monitor lizard entered in my house.
We were watching a feature on television that day, just relaxing. The front door was slightly open but we didn\’t think it was a problem. Suddenly, a monitor lizard slowly crept in through the doorway. We bolted to our feet and tried to chase it out, but hurried into a corner behind the television. BUMMER!
At first we had a case of the jitters, but we knew that we could not sit and do nothing. A monitor lizard had just come into our house and we needed to get it out. So we got to work, moving the television and TV stand out of place. We disconnected the other gadgets and hit the floor at intervals, trying to get our unwanted guest, but nothing turned up. For all we knew it could have already made its way under the carpet and out into some other part of the house.

My imagination went into overdrive. What if it was pregnant? Who knew how many little monitors a monitor-Mom gave birth to in one shot? Ten? We could have a whole colony of monitors breeding in our house before we even knew it! It seemed hopeless. But we did not stop.
We decided to unroll the tip of the carpet and –ZAP! The monitor hurried out from under it (to our shrieks and maniacal jumps, of course). We got it cornered between ourselves and the door, and the smart critter chose the door, which was shut. Oh man … well, in the end we killed it (how we did that is a long story in itself).
Needless to say, anytime I look back on that day I’m thankful that we don’t have monitors breeding in our house to worry about. It’d just have been creepy.

The two things I learnt from this are to never leave the front-door ajar, and that if there’s a lizard in the house get it out!
The Bible tells us in Psalm 4:23 to, “Keep vigilant watch over your heart; that\’s where life starts.” The stuff we let in through our sight and hearing influence the way we think and, ultimately, who we become. If we let bad stuff then that’s what we’d be thinking about. You know what they say: ‘You can’t keep the birds from flying around your head, but you can keep them from building nests on it.’ It’s a deliberate effort, and it’s your responsibility to be careful what you let in.
And if you know that there’s bad thoughts in your heart, deal with them. Don’t let them grow into colonies of lizards. It’s better to nip them in the bud. Fill your mind with good stuff like God’s Word, and any good thing that inspires. If you need help, just ask God. He’s willing to help.
Anytime I turn on my computer the antivirus software pops up reminding me that it needs an update. It says, ‘PROTECT WHAT YOU VALUE.’ I try to remind myself of the same thing. Your mind is a great treasure. Protect it.
As the Dettol commercials would go if they dealt with this theme, “If you don’t guard your heart … who will?”

By Emmanuel Onimisi