Our Family
We love animals and have a few pets: fish, gerbils, and a snake. Our snake inspired my thoughts today.
Quiz Prep
Just for fun, I made a little quiz. So pay attention as you read! 😀 See the quiz at the end.
Meet Stripe
Our snake's name is Stripe, well, his full name is Cleo the Stripe Nuffer, but only I call him that. He is an albino cornsnake and is a super peaceful, easy-to-care-for-pet. He even has a theme song. You can ask my kids to sing it to you sometime! We got Stripe when my son was in 3rd grade and needed a subject for a school project. We went to the pet store, thinking we'd get a pet, and came out with a snake. I never thought I would own a snake, but life leads you down unexpected paths sometimes. So Stripe's about 10 years old now. He is a very good snake and has never bitten anyone, thank goodness. He also is an escape artist. More about that later.
Escape Artists
First, I'd like to tell you about another snake, Herman.1 President Thomas S. Monson's youngest son Clark loved animals. One day he came home from Provo Canyon with a water snake. He named the snake Herman and promptly lost him. His mom found him in a silverware drawer. I bet she was thrilled!
So Clark decided to keep Herman in a bathtub. He put water in the tub and made a sign to put on the tub: "Don't use this tub. It belongs to Herman." So the family obeyed the sign and used the other bathroom in their house.
But then one day, Herman disappeared again. Clark's mom was probably happy to have the bathroom back to normal. She cleaned the tub, and several days went by.
Then one evening, President Monson decided it "was time to take a leisurely bath." So he filled up the tub. He layed down in the tub for a few moments of relaxation and pondering. Then the water reached the level of the overflow drain and started to flow through it. All of sudden, Herman came swimming out, headed right for President Monson's face! He yelled to his wife, "Frances! Here comes Herman!"
So they captured Herman again and took him back to Provo Canyon and released him to the wild. They never saw Herman again.
Keep Calm and Be Patient
Telling about this in a conference talk, President Monson said that from this experience, he learned a lesson in patience and calmness.
Our snake has also taught us about patience. He's managed to escape from us a few times, and it's been interesting to see where he ends up. Once he was tangled up in some blinds, once he was coiled around a walking stick in our computer room, another time he was hiding behind the TV. One time we really thought we had lost him for good. We were getting ready to go on vacation the next day when we put him in his feeding container to give him a meal - a nice little frozen mouse - before we left. And then we finished packing and forgot about him. He got out and was gone. So we had to tell the person who was taking care of our pets while we were gone, that sorry, there's a snake loose in our house.
It must have been about 2 months later when I came down to the kitchen one morning and up high, above the upper cabinets, was a piece of snake skin. We climbed up on the counter and, lo and behold, there was Stripe, on top of the cabinets, still alive. We took him down and gave him some water, and he drank for a very long time. He was one thirsty snake!
The scriptures have many examples of people who had patience and had to deal with all sorts of things even more hard to deal with than the loss of a snake. One such person was Alma's son Shiblon, during his mission.
Alma told his son:
"For I know that thou wast in bonds; yea, and I also know that thou wast stoned for the word’s sake; and thou didst bear all these things with patience because the Lord was with thee; and now thou knowest that the Lord did deliver thee.
"And now my son, Shiblon, I would that ye should remember, that as much as ye shall put your trust in God even so much ye shall be delivered out of your trials, and your troubles, and your afflictions, and ye shall be lifted up at the last day." 2
Mean Snakes
Sometimes, you have to be careful around snakes. Not all snakes are as friendly as Stripe. Once my brother-in-law Aaron was helping his grandpa move a boat trailer. He saw a tiny little snake and picked it up, to toss it out of the way. But that snake bit him. It was a rattlesnake, and was too young to have a rattle yet, so Aaron didn't realize what kind of snake it was. His arm started swelling up. He ended up in the hospital and made a full recovery, thanks to anti-venom.
Elder Gary E. Stevenson told about an experience he had with his dad while hiking in the mountains.3 They were going up a steep trail lined with large rocks. Gary jumped from one large rock to another. I could definitely picture him doing that -- my kids loved to climb rocks when we'd go hiking when they were younger, too. They were like baby mountain goats.
Gary started to climb a large rock, when he dad quickly grabbed him by the belt and pulled him down. He said, "Don't climb on that rock. Let's just keep on the trail."
When they got further on the trail, they could look down and see where they'd been. He said that they were stunned to see a big rattlesnake basking in the sun, on top of that very rock he had wanted to climb.
On the way home, he asked his dad, "How did you know the snake was there?" And his dad told him that the Holy Ghost had told him. Elder Stevenson said, "I am forever grateful that my father listened to the still, small voice of the Holy Ghost, as it may have saved my life."
I'm grateful for the Holy Ghost's influence on my life, too.
A Likely Candidate
If you think rattlesnakes are a bit scary, how about some fiery serpents?
The children of Israel were wandering around the wilderness in a rocky valley. They started complaining against God and against their prophet Moses. To teach them a lesson, God sent fiery serpents among them. Many were bitten and died. The people repented, so God told Moses to make a serpent and put it on a pole, so that whoever looked at it would be healed and live. So Moses made one of brass, and many people did look and were healed. Some thought it was too easy of a thing to do, refused to look and died.
Image of Moses raising a brass serpent on a pole
Nephi added another terrifying adjective to these fiery serpents: fiery FLYING serpents!4 Can you imagine what they might have been like?
A couple of professors decided to find out what exactly those serpents might have been.5 And they figured out a very likely candidate. This particular snake:
- Lives in the area the Israelites were in
- Likes rocky places
- Has a reddish color
- Has a bite that causes burning - fiery - pain
- Has slow-acting venom that causes internal bleeding, so it takes days to kill instead of some other types of venom that works within minutes or hours -- which fits the timeline. It would give bitten people time for Moses to make the serpent on the pole and for then look at it and be healed.
- And here's the flying part: It has a lightning-fast, jumping, leaping strike. It rubs its scales together, then leaps up toward its victim with great energy and speed, even leaving the ground, sometimes as high as a person's waist.
image of Israeli Saw-Scale Viper
This unique snake is called the Israeli saw-scale viper, and is considered one of the world's most dangerous snakes.
Symbol of Christ
The serpent on the pole symbolizes Jesus Christ, lifted on the cross, who suffered, bled and died for us.
Image of Christ on the cross
It might seem kind of strange that some of the Israelites wouldn't do something so simple as look at the snake on the pole.
A man named David thought so.6 But then the Holy Ghost taught him about how he was similar to the Israelites. David was thinking about the sacrament prayer, and how it says we may have God's Spirit to be with us if we always remember Him. And David realized that remembering Jesus was something that seemed so easy, yet David often would get caught up in his daily routines and forget to give much thought to the Savior. He made the connection that remembering Jesus Christ could be our modern-day equivalent of looking at the brass serpent on the pole.
We have modern-day equivalents of snake venom too. And Jesus, our Redeemer, can purge out the poison we injest, sanctify and heal our souls, and lead us to eternal life.
Bishop W. Christopher Waddell taught:
"Dealing with the challenges of life is not about ignoring reality but rather where we choose to focus and the foundation upon which we choose to build.
"There is a common element in [every] trial or challenge—hope and peace are always available through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
"He knows, in a way that no one else can understand, what it is that we need, individually, in order to move forward in the midst of change. Unlike friends and loved ones, the Savior not only sympathizes with us, but He can empathize perfectly because He has been where we are. In addition to paying the price and suffering for our sins, Jesus Christ also walked every path, dealt with every challenge, faced every hurt—physical, emotional, or spiritual—that we will ever encounter in mortality.
"The Atonement of Jesus Christ provides the ultimate corrective and healing measures to every wounded body, damaged spirit, and broken heart."7
Last Lessons
3 more lessons I learned from our snake:
- Never give up. It's a good thing we have handweights on top of the lid of his tank.
Every so often, I see him extending his body upwards, almost seeming to defy gravity, to push his little head on the top screen,
hoping to make the lid move and find a way out. It never works, but he keeps trying.
As Nephi said, we should "press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope."8
- Sometimes people might need help, but not be able or willing to ask for it. This morning, I just happened to walk by his tank, and noticed that he didn't have any water. He had no way of telling me, "Hey! I need water over here!" If you want a quiet pet, get a snake! We should be proactive in looking for service opportunities, and pray that we can follow the Spirit to help others.
- You can shed your skin and have a fresh start.
So, our snake spends a lot of time being still, when he's not trying to get out or when no one is holding him. But a couple of days ago, I saw him being unusually busy, going around in circles, around his half-circle bark house. I wasn't sure why he was so active, but then I looked closer and saw that the outer layer of his skin was starting to come off, and by rubbing against the bark, he could get more and more of it to flake off his body. Now he's like a fresh, new snake.The Apostle Paul had a few things to say about a new start:
It might take some effort, but we can shed our metaphorical skin -- through things like a having a different attitude, repenting, partaking the sacrament, or creating new habits -- and have a fresh start.
- In Romans: "Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life."9
- In 2 Corinthians: "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."10
"With every new day, a new dawn comes—not only for the earth but also for us. And with a new day comes a new start—a chance to begin again. Now is the best time to start becoming the person we eventually want to be." 10
Quiz Time
Give yourself 1 point each for:
- What is our snake's name? Cleo the Stripe Nuffer
- What was Clark Monson's snake's name? Herman
- What's likely the scariest snake on earth? The Israeli saw-scale viper
Give yourself 1 point for each thing you can remember:
What are things we can learn from experiences with snakes?
- Patience
- Calmness
- Never give up
- Look for opportunities to help others
- You can have a fresh start
- Remember to look to Jesus, our Savior
How'd you do?
I'm so grateful for Jesus and his atonement, and to know that through Him, we can overcome difficulties in this life and have a bright hope to live with Him, our Heavenly Parents, and our families again.
💗
