Stories: Spiritual Roaches, Carpenter Ants, & Wasps
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| A woman slumbered one night plagued with dreams regarding her family’s spiritual situation. The dreams haunted her, in particular a dream she had about roaches, carpenter ants, and wasps. In part, the dream will follow with the woman speaking to her husband, or first person to second person:
"I suppose I had a vision of something. We were living in this house renting. We were all in the living room talking, but only one of our children was present. …Eventually, you and he went to the kitchen to prepare dinner. As I sat in the living room I called out you name because in diverse place I say roaches. I did not see many, but a few here or there. You said, in the dream of course, “Don’t worry about it, we will call the landlord and have him treat for the bugs.” Next, I heart this munching sound and saw a trial of big ferocious black carpenter ants coming out of the walls and walking in a trail across the floor. They were menacing and I told you about it. You saw the trial and said, again in the dream, “Don’t worry about it. We ill call the landlord to treat these also.” Next, I heard a buzzing sound and looked up at the ceiling, and in the corner, I saw wasps flying around intimidatingly. This time you took notice and we decided it would be beneficial to leave. We ran down stairs to the car with our son, but the car also had those pests inside. We were trapped. We could not leave, and we could not stay in the house. I then woke up."
After the woman related the dream to her husband, he was prompted to interpret the dream:
"The roaches signify filth. Our home must not only be clean physically but spiritually. We must do all we can to make our home is pleasant to live in. It makes it easier to feel the spirit when we are not disgusted by our surroundings
The ants signify the corruptible things of the world that President Hinckley has warned us against—movies, music, TV programs, and other influences that we watch and listen to that could eat away at the security of the home as carpenter chew away wood. It may look perfectly sound on the outside, but when viewed closer the wood is hollow and weak because of the missing substance. So can be our homes lack substance and be weak if we allow the carpenter ants of substandard activities to chew away the core.
The wasps represent anger and unkind words and unforgiving hearts. Just as a wasp can sting and inflict much pain and even death, so can the repeated stinging of unkind words and love lacking. The sting of such can cause the death of love and tender feelings and of family relationships. Stinging unforgiving and grudging thoughts cause the death of eternity, no progression."
The husband and woman reasoned together and came up with the interpretations that their family has been warned by God to remove those negative elements from their lives, or filthiness will prevail, wickedness abound, and evil hatred consume their family. There will be no progress until they do.
It is up to us to remove the spiritual roaches, carpenter ants, and wasp from our lives, before they linger under the surface no more because of their numbers.
How do we remove these things?
No roaches need appear. We clean our houses. We organize ourselves. Never neglect the duty of keeping our habitations free of debris. If our minds are to dwell upon loveliness, our sight should see it. We must do our best to make sure what ever our habitation is, it is the cleanest and neatest place—free of offensive odor where possible. Good physical hygiene leads to health and well-being. Our environment plays a major character in the play of our emotions.
Remove the wood chewing ants from our homes. We most not watch, listen to, or read material that will not uplift and edify. If we avoid these things, we avoid being hollow, or without the spirit. Wherever evil influences prevail, the spirit is grieved. We fight a constant battle with the influence of the world; our homes should be a safe-haven from them. If we allow them to slip in subtly as a garden snake, we fall prey to the corrosive effects. We find our self far from God not knowing why because the slippery slope of sins of omission and commission gently usher us downward spiritually. How do we allow the ants to chew away our wood? We do so one sin at a time. One sin leads to another. First it is, “Oh, just this one time won’t hurt” or “It is only rated R for violence,” or “I am not so weak that that movie will affect me.” We remove the ants, replace the wood, and constantly treat our home for infestations. In other words, we stop the evil entertainment, find wholesome family activities, and make sure we consider what we allow into our home seriously.
No more stinging each other; our words hurt. Usually a pattern can be followed. Roaches leads to ants, which lead to wasps. If our environment in the home is filthy, we are dejected and it is hard to feel the spirit. We become desensitized and entertain ourselves with questionable things because of our lack of the spirit. We then speak harshly to one another because harshness is all we ingest from our daily activities. It is not guaranteed to occur, but why take the chance to see if it will.
The woman, my wife, moved that we should begin now to prevent that part of her dream from becoming a reality. Roaches obey the law that they were given. Where there is filth, there shall they be. Life is hard enough when everything is done correctly. Life happens, we need to control our portion of it, or we will spend eternity in bondage. Let us control the parts of our lives so ants will now chew our lives hollow, or wasps repeatedly stings us. Let us live a celestial life. |
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