Time for an Exterminator?

I used to be quite a mess. There were people that watched me grow up who probably thought I was incorrigible and that I would never amount to anything. I’m pleased to say that they were wrong. I always tried to give other people the benefit of the doubt and think the best about them. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been proven wrong. People will be who they are no matter what thoughts you harbor about them. You’ve heard the expression, “A leopard never changes it’s spots.” The same can be said about snakes. When people have a good heart, even if they do something wrong, eventually they will repent and do the right thing. When people are bent on doing evil, it’s almost impossible for them to turn it around for good. I’ve heard people say that if it walks like a duck, sounds like a duck, and smells like a duck, it must be a duck. Snakes very seldom give off any odor; unless they’re angry and hissing, you just don’t hear them which makes it very easy for them to sneak up on you. I’ve developed a very fine sense of discernment but I didn’t always have it. I used to be very easy to fool because I tried so hard to believe the best of people. You get bit a couple of times and you begin to learn. What you feed will grow, and we feed behavior by tolerating it. We train people to believe that what they’re doing is all right and when we get hurt, it really is our own fault. People just do what comes naturally to them. If there’s a snake in your life, stop feeding it. Don’t put out any bait and don’t take the bait. You have a lot more power than you realize over your environment. You get to decide who stays and who leaves. It’s all up to you. God doesn’t tolerate the unacceptable and neither should we.