You know, snakes just do what they do. They sometimes will strike at you when you don't see it coming. If you are smart, you will keep your eyes wide open when on a hike especially in the spring, when new life is beginning and the warm sunshine begins to lighten your step after the dead of winter. Don't be surprised, though, because the snakes are there, too. You can be innocently walking along and your life will change instantly with a snake bite.
There is much to be said about that as an analogy of what happens in life. You can go along the path doing what you think is right and good and beneficial, trying to help others...and then WHAM...behold! the surprise attack from someone you love with no rhyme or reason. Maybe from their point there is a reason, but when you have been trying hard to help (when they will let you) and then you get slammed buy an accusation that you have no clue about, you should reevaluate the path you are walking down.
Most never die from a snake bite, but the memory of it pours through you long after the bite takes place. So....never let the snake bite you twice! Now that I have been bitten by a special person in my life, I hope to be more like the snake that sheds its skin. I am capable of letting them be them. I am capable of shedding that layer. I am also capable of shedding the layer of my assembled habits of trying to help. This will create space for me to call matters into question, whether it be within myself or with them. It's no longer acceptable for me to continue to be bitten by those I love the most!
Just as a snake sheds its skin, which I have done countless times in order to keep us all together, I will continue to shed my past over and over again....until my heart no longer hurts. I will also remember that no matter how many times a snake sheds its skin, it will always be a snake. These things must be remembered before letting people back into your life.
Moral of the story: If you don’t check the grass for snakes it’s hard to complain about being bitten.
