forbidden fruit... (part I of II)

From the bag on the table it called my name. With an accented voice, it hithered me nigh. As I squeezed it gently the sweet aroma captured me like a shepherd's crook. It was if the serpent himself tempted me while slivering onto my arm to whisper half-truths in my ear... and like the mother of all women bit into the forbidden fruit, so did I.

Some theologians believe that the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden was an apple. I think it was a mango. And I have the swollen lips and hive marks to prove it. For as long as I can remember I've been allergic to mangoes and I usually have enough willpower to stay away from them. But while on an island far removed from my normal reality, I fell like Eve. We both knew the consequence was far greater than the cost, but our desire trumped our logic and we fell into the belief that we would be the exception and not the rule.

See, I know what happens when I eat fresh mangoes. My family knows what happens when I eat fresh mangoes. My friends know what happens when I eat fresh mangoes. I have an infrastructure of support of those who know to keep the girl with the mango allergens away from sweet, orange balls of goodness. Even while on my vacation my father reminded me, B, don't eat those things. You know what happens. I nodded in dutiful obedience but ripped into the fruit in the solitude of my hotel room. I torn off the skin with my hands and sucked, gnawed, and chewed off every sweet yellow fiber from the seed. Then watched as my lips swelled and hives appear on my arms. Like James 1:14 warns, I had been dragged away and enticed by temptation.

Sin is just like this. From the beginning of time, we've believed that we could handle the repercussions of sin and the lure of temptation... but Eve couldn't, Adam couldn't, and I couldn't. In honor of my healing swollen lips, tomorrow I will post a few thoughts about how to avoid temptation :) In the meantime, stay away from your forbidden fruit!