Lose it

Lose it
by John Fischer

Marti was somewhat beside herself when she came and got me out of my garage office and led me over to the house where she has her own living room office, talking on the phone the whole time, but anxious about some kind of emergency. Inside the living room she pointed over to our large front window and there, resting on the sill, was a lizard with a very long tail. Of course I was supposed to get the thing safely out of the house.

Not being too fond of lizards myself, I contemplated how I would do this. I didn't want to try and chase it out the door for fear it would run under something and we'd lose track of it. That would be the worst... knowing there's a lizard hiding out somewhere in your house and wondering when and where it might reappear.

So I decided to be the brave protector of my home and pick it up and carry to outside. I figured the safest way would be to pick it up by the tail. I'd seen the Australian crocodile guy do that on Animal Planet with baby alligators so this shouldn't be much different. The lizard must have been pretty wiped out from its ordeal because it didn't flinch as I reached down to pick it up. I got its tail all right, but that was all I got because the minute I grabbed it, the tail broke off. So I tried it again and another piece came off. It was odd how easily it came off and even odder how the piece of tail kept wriggling for some time afterwards.

A little research revealed that the tail separation is a built-in defense mechanism the reptile has to allow it to escape from a predator. The wriggling piece occupies the attacker long enough for the lizard to crawl off. Lose a tail; save a life.

I bet we all have something we could lose in order to break free of that which holds us back. Maybe it's a habit, an addiction, or a sin that just won't let go. Jesus once said that if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. Better to enter heaven with one eye than hell with two. (Mark 9:47)

Go ahead. Pull away. Whatever that thing is... lose it. Better to be free than to be held down.