SINGLE WORDS
Today's reading: Genesis 1-3

"Now the serpent was the shrewdest of all the creatures the Lord God had made. Really? he asked the woman..." Genesis 3:1 NLT

I can remember it as clearly as if it had happened yesterday. I can hear the sing-song in my voice. I recall just the tone I would use.

And it worked. Every time, it worked.

You see, I could (past tense only, I'm far too mature for that sort of thing now) push my younger sister's buttons.

Oh, it seldom took much. She was, in the science experiment kind of way, the reactant...I was the catalyst. I was the instigator, she was the one who couldn't ignore me! Oh, I've repented of my past sins and have some of the scars to prove that retaliation hurts. We, I more than her, even joke about it these days.

A single word would usually set off fireworks between us. Nothing loud. Nothing harsh. Nothing, in all reality, that meant a thing. A single, well toned and pronunciated word and I had her fired up and ready to rumble. A single, solitary word.

But it worked.

It worked with Eve, too.

A single word. A seed. A simple question that evokes doubt, fear and disobedience. You? Now? Why? All? Them? That? There? Really?

Dog gone that serpent! It still works on us in the same way, doesn't it?