Today, my computer desktop shows a photo I took of wisteria. The pyramid of purple hangs among the delicate green leaves. At the National Gallery of Art, in Washington, D.C., a wide swath of wisteria intersects the front of the older building that faces the mall. I stood under the massive vines once, bees buzzing, the aroma saturating my nose.
In Charleston, S.C., the trunks of wisteria vines twine around steel fences that front mansions preserved from the 1700s. The vines are so powerful they can twist inch-thick steel. In the South, homeowners often prune wisteria into a shrub, to keep its powerful growth habit in check.
In the South, many times we’ve seen that growth overtaking an abandoned house and yard. Gray wood siding, covered with green vines. Tall live oaks consumed by Spanish moss and purple blooms. Tendrils hanging from utility lines. Out of control power.
Like an endless wisteria plant, out of bounds s*ex can take over a relationship. The physical intimacy between a husband and a wife creates a bond of beauty and power. Uncontrolled, though, s*ex consumes rather than enhances a life. Meant to maintain and create, in the wrong context, s*ex can destroy and degrade. Americans live in such a s*ex-saturated culture, we can become immune to the degradation. The passing illicit pleasure deceives. T. Suzanne Eller writes in the current issue of Today’s Christian Woman, of the Rise of Raunch. I’m not easily shocked, but her first anecdote got me. It’s on newsstands now.
Jesus, the bible says, “he who sins s*e*xually, sins against his own body.” (1 Cor. 6:18) Please resensitize us to this truth.