The Parable of the Lost Snake

I wrote most of this post months ago when it actually happened, but didn't get around to posting it utill now.
So I had an interesting day today. Before I explain I must tell you that I am not a huge fan of snakes. In fact it took Sterling almost nine years to convince me we needed one. Well he tricked me by convincing the girls first. Then I was trapped. So we went to the pet store about a year ago and got our snake. Anyway the girls just love her.
Sterling caught another snake just up the street from our house about 3 weeks ago. I wasn't so crazy about this wild snake, but she really wasn't too bad. That doesn't mean I will hold her or anything. Abby and Sydnee loved these snakes so much that they started a Snake Club in the neighborhood. Basically, all the neighborhood kids signed up and pretty much everyday they come over and pull both the snakes out and play games with them. I try to keep them outside as much as possible. So today as we were getting ready to leave to go to the pool I asked Sydnee to put the snake away. (this was the wild one, whom I think is named Minnie today) She did and we started getting ready to go. Just on a hunch I thought I had better make sure she closed the lid tight. You can guess what happened next. That is right, no snake! It had been about 5 minutes from the time she put the snake away until the time I checked. The snakes are located in our laundry room and I figure she was probably hiding in the nearest dark cave-like spot there. So we searched behind the washer and dryer, in the washer and dryer, down the drains, up the walls, everywhere. I started to freak out. Yes, I was a mess. The thought of a lost snake in my house was really freaking me out. I was imagining finding the snake in the middle of the night crawling around my toes. I called Sterling, pretty much just to yell at him for catching the snake in the first place.
So Abby suggested that we say a prayer. I was pretty steamed up and wasn't in the mood to pray but of course we did. Abby's prayer was really good. She asked that we would be able to find the snake and that he would be safe (honestly I am surprised she didn't pray for my sanity) After the prayer she just expected to find the snake right away (that has happened to us before with losing our first snake) Well we didn't. We searched some more and starting looking all over the house. By this time the pool excursion was out. I was not leaving the house with a lost snake and no one looking for him. I was getting desperate. I was angry. I starting thinking of what hotel I was going to stay at that night. I starting thinking of my sister who was coming to stay that weekend. No way would she come with a lost snake. Hours went by and no snake. Sterling finally came home and we looked together. We pretty much figured it had either gone down the sink drain and was probably gone forever or stuck in the washer. I tried to take apart the washer, but that was going to be a huge task. Finally, I began to calm down. I didn't stop looking, but I was beginning to realize we might never find the snake. I was slowly accepting the fact that I would have a lost snake in my house forever. I started making plans on how I would deal with this. I tried to imagine finding the snake days later in the washing machine, or in my laundry and not freaking out. I felt like I was coming to terms with this and I was realizing that the world was not going to end and that I could deal with this. And that is when it appeared. Miraculously, it was crawling near our garage door. I don't know how it got there. It somehow past Sterling on his way out and he didn't see him until he turned around. There was our snake. I could have kissed it!! No longer lost! I was so happy! I felt such relief. Yeah!
Later on that night as I pondered this experience I questioned something. Yes, Heavenly Father answered our prayer, but why didn't he answer it right away? Then it hit me. It was like the spirit telling me "you needed to learn this lesson" I realize that the snake was found only once I was willing to accept the problem of having a lost snake forever and once I was willing to deal with it. It was at that point that I was no longer thinking that we would ever find the snake. I was totally focused on dealing with this long term, probably forever problem. How would I handle this? What would i tell people that came over? Would I be ok if I found the snake somewhere by myself? I think that Heavenly Father was telling me that not all problems will go away automatically with a prayer. Sometimes we have to come to terms that this problem will probably be around for a long time, if not for the rest of our mortal existence. I needed to learn this lesson. Especially now. I feel like I have been praying for a problem to just go away instead of praying to have the strenght to accept it and to be able to live my life with it. I hope that I can learn from this experience and know that sometimes in life we are just going to have to live with a lost snake. But through the Lord's help, we can have the strength, and patience to deal with it. Hey it could always be worse right. I am just grateful it wasn't poisonus.