Why Did God Create Flies?

There's a fly in my house that's driving me crazy. For two days now a pesky, obnoxious, teasing fly has been tormenting me. 

Since my head wound on Wednesday, I've tried to take it easy. A raging headache has driven me to the couch to rest on several occasions and without fail, this tiny, filthy creature has vexed me. He may be the smartest fly I've ever seen. He's able to fly silently at times, but when I'm trying to rest, he buzzes. When I try to swat at him, he flits away. He knows how tall I am, and what my reach is, even with a flyswatter in hand. He flies in that safe area and then lands safely on my fifteen foot ceiling. 

On Thursday, he was an annoyance.

Today I hate him. He doesn't understand death is in his future no matter how crafty or quick he is.

When I was six years old, my parents bought an old, abandoned schoolhouse. I'd heard them talking and I knew we were going to live in it. I was terrified the first time we walked into it. The windows were broken out and dead wasps and flies covered the floors. I'd never seen anything like it. Dad and Mom reassured us that it would be a fun place to live. We didn't have to worry.

They worked hard and soon the windows were replaced and all the dead insects were swept up. The hardwood floors were clean and my parents were right. It was a fun place to live.

But the flies! The flies were terrible. It seemed there were always flies. I'm sure part of it was because the school had been abandoned and open to the elements for ten years. Part of it was probably because we were a small farming community. Whatever the reasons, I hated those flies. We swatted and swept them up time and time again.

Then Mom learned about Q-Mist--fly killer in a can. It was safe for use around food, pets, farms and people. It wasn't cheap and you could only get it at the farmer's co-op, but that didn't matter. It was an extravagance that Mom needed and deserved. A spray of that magic can and we were happily fly-free for awhile.

So if my buzzing companion of the past couple of days doesn't find his way out or carelessly land within my reach soon, I'll be making a trip to the co-op. 

The fly's days are numbered.


Comments

Cindy C Bennett said…
Oh, my! I was laughing so hard when I read the title alone - then I read the rest.

Let me start by saying I'm sorry for your injury. I hope you get feeling better soon. If you need cookies, let me know.

I have always said one of my first questions to God will be to ask what purpose spiders serve other than to terrify me. Somewhere in the top ten is the question of why we have flies that serve no other purpose than to annoy us and vomit on everything. Although now you may have given a partial answer to that - it's so that I can be entertained by your post about an annoying fly!

Thanks for the smiles today. :o)
missy said…
Oh if only I had one annoying fly. The flies vexing me are of the fruit/gnat variety and I just can't get rid of them! I've googled "how to get rid of fruit flies/gnats" so many times and I've tried a variety of semi-successful solutions, but after a day or two they are back and, like your clever fly, insist in getting in my face (and food) at every opportunity. I feel your pain. I'll be heading over to google now to look up Q-mist...
Scott / Lori said…
Oh Wow. I remember Q-mist. When we ran out we always had to make the trip to the Co-op! I remember one time they were sold out and that did not make anyone very happy. I still remember the smell of that stuff too. We have had an extra large population of flies this year....and bees too. Hope the fly is gone now and you are resting peacefully.