What if evil became tangible?  Words might take flight in the air and dark thoughts could grow out of heads like dusty twisted weeds. Hatred could be seen as a swirl of smoke from angry lips. Hot, smoldering, and black.  Resembling a trash bag snared on a cold gray metal hook of barbed wire.  A wind storm of hurtful words make it rage and buck.  Then loosed, it bites ears, pricks hearts and spills burning ink.  Its eyes deep in the storm burn like red lightning.  It splatters on faces and stains walls.  The word, ‘sorry’ tries to slow the damage.  Like weak soap it is devoured.  Once these creature are created, they can be hard to subdue.

Luke 11:24-26 (NCV)

²⁴ “When an evil spirit comes out of a person, it travels through dry places, looking for a place to rest. But when it finds no place, it says, ‘I will go back to the house I left.’ ²⁵ And when it comes back, it finds that house swept clean and made neat. ²⁶ Then the evil spirit goes out and brings seven other spirits more evil than it is, and they go in and live there. So the person has even more trouble than before.”

I like this story because self improvement is something that is a good thing.  When evil is purged or displaced, it has to be replaced.  Vacancy in our hearts and souls doesn’t seem to be a wise option.  What if love, respect, and compassion could inhabit our dark insides?  What if they could exist within tangible form.  I imagine they would be like large butterflies made of white silk.  They smell like warm honey and fresh roses.  Large and strong, they fly and pick people up and fly them around for a moment.  Giving them encouragement, hope, and a better perspective.

Copyright © 2016 Zachary W Gilbert