The Woman Answered The Snake

February 26, 2023

From today’s reading…

The woman answered the snake, ‘We may eat the fruit of the trees in the garden. But of the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden God said, “You must not eat it, nor touch it, under pain of death.”’” Genesis 3:2-3

Every day in Jiu-Jitsu training, someone will ask our instructor how to get out of a bad spot, to which he always replies, “Don’t get into that bad spot in the first place.”

It’s somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but it’s also true.

While he will show the student how to get out of that bad spot, he also goes back to the beginning of the sparring session to determine how the student got into that spot in the first place because a stitch in time saves your face from being smashed by a hulk in Jiu-Jitsu. (I modified the saying just a bit.)

The point is, don’t wait until you’re in the backseat of your daddy’s Chevy on Make Out Mountain to suddenly try to exert self-control.

The self-control should’ve been applied before you started making out…before you got into the backseat…before you turned left off of Main Street to go up to Make Out Mountain instead of right to go get ice cream.

Eve was naive or vain or a thrill-seeker in even engaging with the serpent, to begin with.

She should’ve been like those politicians and celebrities and people in a high-profile trial you see on TV with all the reporters shoving microphones in their faces, trying to corner them with their questions, and just replied, “No comment.”

Don’t converse with the devil. Tell him, “No comment,” and move on, which is the only way to…

Stay the course.Keep the faith.Endure.

Market like you mean it. Now go sell something.