Mistletoe has romantic connotations. Hang a sprig, preferably with white berries, in a doorway, and a person passing beneath gets kissed. When I was a child, we’d climb high into a tree and harvest mistletoe to sell during the Christmas season. It took courage and agility, as well as the risk of a broken bone or two from a fall to get the stuff. We’d have a tray of little red-ribbon-tied mistletoe sprigs to sell at fifty-cents each. Exorbitant price for the time, and they still sold within an hour. Fast money!
The truth is mistletoe is a parasite that sucks the life out of a tree. Mistletoe roots sink deep into limbs, stealing moisture and nutrients from the host. Trees take a long time to grow, and it can take a long-suffering time for them to die. Imagine a large tick attached to you permanently, steadily drinking your blood. Gross, isn’t it? Mistletoe is like a virus that spreads through the entire tree and then spreads to others.
The flowering plum trees down the median strip on one of our main streets have mistletoe. Some have one or two spots; others look like a mistletoe tree with a dozen or more beach-ball sized growths. Fall is here and the leaves have fallen, leaving the gray-green masses in plain sight; a visual announcement of impending death.
The same is true of ivy. It doesn’t drink the sap of a tree like a plant vampire, but it grows around it and slowly chokes it to death like a boa constrictor. It is also a rat habitat, providing food, water, and shelter. Ivy guarantees an increase in rat population.
Bad habits can be like mistletoe – deep-rooted, slow killers. They can be like ivy, oh so ornamental, but wrapping tendrils around you and slowly choking out the good. One bad habit often leads to others.
If you want to live like a healthy tree that bears fruit in season, cut the mistletoe and ivy. Lean on God’s power, take in the nutrients of God’s Word, drink in the Living Water Jesus offers. In Christ and through His power, you will thrive.