Are you just in survival mode?

John 10:10 (ESV)

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

Sea Firs -- are "treelike" structures otherwise known as Hydroids.

The name itself makes us think they are a dangerous kind of android, doesn't it? Something out there to capture us with evil intent. But when you look at these underwater bonsai trees with their seemingly delicate white leaves gently swaying in the ocean currents, you have to wonder how such beauty could ever be able to hurt anything.

Beneath their external beauty however, a beast indeed lurks! The Sea Fir is not a fir at all. And it's not a plant either! It is actually an animal, and a very hungry one!

At the tip of this beast's "branches" are polyps which shoot poisonous threads into the water, imprisoning any microscopic prey in their surroundings! And it is quite successful in attaining its goal. All the tiny organisms of the sea that are within its reach become lunch or supper, depending on the time of day!

Beauty is often deadly, especially if we let our guard down! Too often we lead dull lives on survival mode, which isn't even surviving at all! What is even scarier is that we accept this as completely normal, and this kind of monotonous existence often leads us into "hydroid" neighborhood. The beauty overwhelms us, attracting us out of the monotony of our way of living, but before we know it we are entrapped and unable to break free. Sensuality, lust, drugs, work, power, religion, and anything else may seem alluring, but they are far from safe!

To be truthful, most of our deadened existence longs for a heightened level of stimulation to arouse it, and this leads, in return, to the imprisonment of our very soul. We are captured by vice, and its grip has forced us away from the One who can give us real life!

Deep down, once we are under the power of life's "hydroids", we know we have been duped. We feel disillusioned, deeply disappointed. But what else is there? And so we continue our dull living in a downward spiral with no hope in sight.

If only we could wake up and realize there is more to life than survival!

Real life is only possible if true love exists. But how is it even possible when so many people have ulterior motives? Everyone out there seem to be thinking of themselves first. But then one day a whisper reaches our ears, and we wonder if it is really true: "Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken..." (Isa 54:10)

Dear Lord, help us not fall into the traps of this world. Help us instead to completely rely on Your Love and keep it as the basis of our live. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.