Taste of Wonder

A Bad Idea
I was inspired by C. S. Lewis’s Screwtape Letters. So I imagined a modern scenario of demons plotting the demise of the souls of young people. In this particular instance, I was at the gym. Everyone had their headphones in, but I wondered what else they heard every time they looked in the mirror. What darts did Satan shoot into their minds regularly?

“I have an idea,”
Said a demon to his peers.
“It’ll keep us entertained
For the next fifty years.
We’ll tell the men to get muscular
To cover up their fears,
And tell the women to get skinny—
Then they’ll have no more tears.
And when they come around
To see they’re ugly and worn,
We’ll have filled up their hearts
With self-hatred and scorn.
‘Why can’t I find happiness
In my physical form?’
It’s a practical joke!
We’ll laugh as they mourn.”

“I think I have a plan,”
Said a demon to his peers.
“On this much pain, we’ll get drunk
When people’s cries reach our ears.

“Have all the actors,
and actresses too,
Make people believe that their
Dreams will come true.
‘Just believe in yourself.
There’s no work to do,
Cause no one in the world
Is more special than you.’
We’ll dance and we’ll sing
Around their collective oppression,
Then hide behind medicine
and call it depression.

“Keep them from making
that one true confession.
Distraction and confusion
Is the point of our profession.

“I’ve got an idea—
Now lean in and listen,
Cause this might just be
The fulfillment of our mission.
But wait, here He comes!
Oh my, how He glistens.
It really is a shame that He knows what we’re wishin’.”

Along came a man,
Gleaming and bright.
He came through and ruined
The demons’ dark night.
With short and terse words,
He dispelled all their scheming
By reminding them of people
And their heavenly meaning.

“Who do you think you are,
And who said you could speak?
Cause I believe that I died
To bring home my sheep.

“Now, my name is Jesus.
I don’t know if you’ve heard—
Long before creation,
They just called me the Word.

“I came to bring a sword,
So I hope it’s plain to see
That no force in creation
Is above my decree.
Your plans and your schemes,
They don’t frighten me
Cause I came to this earth
To set my people free!

“Your temporary distractions
And your hopes of destruction
Will not get in the way
Of my church’s construction.

“So get up off my daughter,
And get away from my son.
You have no authority,
And the battle is won.”