THE ART OF BUD NIPPING: AKA THE LITTLE FOX PRINCIPLE

Greeting Oh Ye Bud Nippers...how's the little foxes in your life? Have you ever wonder why things are so out of hand? Have you pondered on how you got into this fine mess? Have you ever ruminated about the source of your troubles? Have you ever thrown your hands up in the air and moaned...why does everything always happen to me? If so...consider THE ART OF BUD NIPPING... or as it is also known...THE LITTLE FOX PRINCIPLE.

James 1:2 encourages us to..."Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials..."
Note that this is written to the believer...brethren. Don't worry ladies...it also applies to the sistren. Also note that it does not say IF you encounter various trials...but WHEN. James continues the thought in verse 3..."knowing that the TESTING OF YOUR FAITH...produces endurance." This is not and enticement to evil...a temptation...but a TESTING...where the pressure is on...and it will reveal stress or pressure points in your faith...so you can tighten up your faith. Endurance means to KEEP ON KEEPIN' ON as you go through life.

The endurance is not to be the end result...but merely the transition from going through stuff...to a destination. The destination is found in verse 4..."And let endurance have its PERFECT RESULT..that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." The hard part of course...is wondering...WHY? Why am I going through this trial...test? James has got this covered also...found in verse 5..."But if any of you LACKS WISDOM...let him ASK OF GOD...who gives to all men generously and without reproach...and IT WILL BE GIVEN HIM."

This is not talking about a school kid...asking for wisdom prior to taking a test that he did not study for the night before. It is not the assimilation of facts...like NEO being hooked up to a computer download directly into his mind via the port on the back of his head...as he learns Kung Fu within seconds. I believe...that he is talking about wisdom about...THE TRIAL THAT YOU ARE GOING THROUGH. Sometimes...it could be the simple fact that we lived in a cursed and fallen world...and it rains on the just and the unjust. Sometimes it may be a well orchestrated assault from the devil and his assorted cohorts carrying out the SCHEMES OF THE DEVIL (Ephesians 6). Sometimes it is an allowance by God...to see if you will TRUST HIM. Sometimes...we pull a BARNEY FIFE....and we shoot ourselves in the foot by our own stupidity and disobedience. Andy told us not to put the bullet in the gun...God told Adam and Eve not eat of certain fruit... and they...we...me...REAP WHAT WE SOW. We sow to the FLESH...and we reap the FLESH. We sow to the wind...and we reap the whirlwind. It is good to PINPOINT...the WHY...so that we can DEAL WITH IT...accordingly. We may need to REBUKE the devil...or we may need to REPENT because of disobedience...or RESIST the SCHEMES.

But for me...a lot of the time...the reason I am going through stuff...can be traced to me...NOT NIPPING THINGS IN THE BUD...not DEALING WITH THE LITTLE FOXES. My VINEYARD...is spoiled because I ALLOWED things to happen in my life.

In the book...the Song of Solomon...The Song of Songs...the primer for adding spice to the marriage...speaks..."Catch the foxes for us...the little/young foxes...that are ruining/spoiling the vineyards...while our vineyards are in blossom." (Song of Solomon 2:15)

This wise advice for newly weds...and oddly weds. Deal with the little things... before they turn into BIG THINGS. Or as Barney Fife proclaims....

"YOU BETTER NIP IT IN THE BUD, ANDY...NIP IT! NIP IT! NIP IT!"
Words of advice on rearing Opie to Andy. Again...good advice...that APPLIES to every area of our lives.

This means to..."put a stop to something while it is still IN IT'S EARLY DEVELOPMENT." According to www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/256600.html.
"This phrase clearly derives by allusion to the de-budding of plants. The earlier form of the phrase was ...'nip in the bloom' and this is cited in Hnery Chettle's romance PIERS PLAINNES SEAVEN YERES PRENTISHIP, 1595..."Extinguish these fond loues with mnds labour, and NIP ty affections IN THE BLOOME, that they may NEURER BEE (never be) of POWER to budde."

"Be angry and yet DO NOT SIN...do not LET/ALLOW the sun go down on your anger...and do not GIVE THE DEVIL AN OPPORTUNITY." (Ephesians 4:26,27)

Awwwwwwwww....but those little foxes are so cute. Cute...until they destroy what is precious to you. They go for the YOUNG GRAPES...they go for the vines before they have a chance to mature into their destiny...wine...jams...jelly...SO...you better DEAL WITH THEM...NIP THEM...early on.

Back in the day...when I first met Brenda Sue...in the late 60's...I weighed 131 pounds. I went away to Tennessee Temple Bible School in 1971...and gained up to 175 pounds. I got married...and for a brief time when I first started taking karate...I was in shape...weighing in at my fighting weight of 165 pounds. Over the next few years...after eating Brenda's cooking...I kept putting on the pounds. I remembered when I was at Courtsouth Raquetball Club in the 70's/80's...I stepped on the scales in the locker room...and I weighed 198 pounds. One of the guys standing there...told me...you better take control now...or you will be over 200 pounds before you now it. I laughed...and told him that it would ever happen. The little foxes were nipping away in my vineyard.

Over the next few years...pound by pound...inch by inch...my girth expanded...but I DID NOT REALIZE IT...until one day...I stepped on the scales...and I weighed OVER...320 pounds. I say OVER...because I quit weighing at that point. It DID NOT HAPPEN OVER NIGHT. It was on little fox after another that I did not deal with...it was on UNNIPPED BUT AFTER ANOTHER.

What are you NOT DEALING with? Is it lust (one peek here...another yielding to a temptation there?) Are you taking one drink here...another there...just to take the edge off of the pressures of your life? Is it one Twix Bar here...a Butterfinger there...do you laughingly call yourself a chocoholic. Do you find yourself blaming your weight on your bones...after all...I'm just big boned. I look back and see my MIND SET...when I go out out to eat. I always have to have more than Brenda does...because after all...I'm the man...and I've got a MAN-SIZED APPETITE. As the commercial says...How do you handle a hungry man...HAVE NOT RESTRAINTS.

David...the boy shepherd...the boy warrior...the Psalmist...the KING...did not NIP THINGS IN THE BUD. He allowed the LITTLE FOXES spoiled HIS VINEYARD.

Step #1 Look at Bathsheba take a bath. Of course she was not bathing in her bathing suit...she was NAKED.

Step#2 He DID NOT NIP IT IN THE BUD...he lingered along with the LITTLE FOXES.

Step # 3 He developed a MIND SET.

Step#4 He abused his POWER...and had SEX with her.

Step # 5 He conspired to bring in her husband to make it look like the fruit of David's sin...was really here husbands.

Step #6 Step #5 did not work...so he plotted a murder and cover up.

Step #7 His sin is revealed

All of this could be avoided if at STEP #1...he had NIPPED IT IN THE BUD...if he had just dealt with the LITTLE FOXES. The cause and effect...SPOILED VINEYARDS. See Psalm 32 and Psalm 51 to see how to deal with the cause and effect of NOT BUD NIPPING or FOX CONTROL.

Well...remember...this principle...can apply to every area of our lives.

Love and Bud Nipping Kisses
Rodney "Foxy" Boyd