Verbena

Verbena: of the family verbenaceae.

The tiny flowers have five petals each, and are borne in dense clumps of flower clusters.

There is a way which seems right to a man,

But the end is the way of death.

Proverbs 14:12

I have an unusual amount of food allergies and intolerances – far more than any one person should have!  I am gluten intolerant, which wipes out a whole section of the food chain, as well as allergic to all dairy, citrus, chocolate, strawberries, potatoes, peppers, eggplant, tomatoes… I think you get the picture.  Eating any of these items can produce severe pain and gastrointestinal havoc.  So I should never eat them, right?  Of course, right!

Ah, but that is not the way the human mind works.  When you want something really badly, you can justify it some way – any way.  I don’t know how many times I have eaten a croissant (my special weakness), or ice cream, or Mexican food (smothered in cheese and tomato sauce) and told myself that this time it isn’t going to bother me.  I don’t think I ever really believe that lie, but I want to have the forbidden food, so I eat it.  The inevitable consequence is a day of feeling like I’ve been run over by a truck.  Yesterday was just such a day.  And last night, I promised myself one more time that I will never do this again. (sigh)  We’ll see how long that lasts!

Why in the world would I do this to myself for approximately 90 seconds (for the average brownie) of chewing and swallowing, when I know it will be followed by 48 hours of pure misery?  Why does the smoker smoke, knowing that each puff damages a few more lung cells?  Why does a person lie when the truth would be much safer?  Why do people drink and then get behind the wheel of a car?  We do it because we listen to the siren song, “It’s ok – it doesn’t matter just this once…”