The Mark of the Anay

Yes, folks, pictured here is the mark of the anay. It is a very specific design and looks almost like a Chinese character. We got struck at our house with this mark.

What is the anay, you ask? Do I have any guesses? Yes, my friends, this is the word for "termites." Oh, folks, do you know how I feel about having these crawling all over our house? Thankfully, they have not made it to our books yet! (Our friends read a good book and they said, "We really liked it...the termites liked it too, which is why we can't loan it to you).

I've been staring up at the corner of our bedroom for quite some time now. As you can see, this is the view from my bed. I lay and look up at this growing brown line in the corner of the room by the ceiling. I've been wondering....wondering...what that thing is. However, I had my suspicions, and today they were confirmed by the guy who came to assess the mark of the anay. How would you sleep at night after a guy told you these little termites were circling the moulding around your room, around and around?
This is all the damage done that we can see from the outside. I wonder what is happening on the inside!!

So much destruction!

Now, the preacher in me has to make a lesson out of this amazing illustration. Please listen.

When I first discovered the anay I was cleaning the upper shelf of the closet for some guests that would be staying with us. I had the closet organized and tidy. I had everything put where it was supposed to be. From all appearances my whole house was in order.

Then I decided to move the cardboard box that was on the top shelf to see what was in it. I was thinking, "Maybe there are some decorations or candles I can use for the guests...", but instead I found it crawling with little bugs (now known to me as anay). I screamed and got sick inside.

You see, this anay is like sin in our lives. We may have everything together on the outside and may appear to everyone opening the closet door that things are tidy and in order. But inside, deep inside where no one can even see, there may be some unchecked sin that we have not even ventured near to touch or move or discover. In fact, just like the anay, we may not even WANT to discover such icky things in our closets!!

However, let me teach you a lesson about the anay in our lives....the same lesson God taught me! I didn't have time to deal with the little bugs that day. I sprayed the closet and aired it out because my guests were coming in a couple days!! (I didn't tell them what I found in their closet--of course!). I did a quick surface cover up, thinking maybe the problem went away. Yet, as you can see from the pictures, the unresolved anay in my closet ended up spreading through the entire upstairs.....around the frames of the doors....on the moulding by the baseboard...behind the desk in my office....and circling the entire circumfrence of our bedroom.

Yes, even though the problem of "anay" or sin in our lives may be icky and we don't even want to think of opening that door in our hearts, it is better to treat it properly to the depths or else it will spread and become more destructive and will spread to every other room in our lives.

"If you keep yourself pure, you will be a utensil God can use for his purpose. Your life will be clean, and you will be ready for the Master to use you for every good work." 2 Timothy 2.21NLT