I’m writing this post from the YMCA at Snow Mountain Ranch outside of Winter Creek, Colorado.  LaVon and I are here as a part of our church’s senior high ski trip.  I’ve been here many times before, but I was stunned this year to look around at all of the brown and dying pines.  As I write, crews are outside the lodge cutting down tree after tree.  The culprit is the Mountain Pine Beetle (mpb).  This beetle attacks pine trees vigorously.  The strongest withstand the attack.  Those trees that are weak easily succumb.  The beetles burrow their way under the bark and consume wood while introducing another fungi to the tree that turns its wood blue.  Seeing this tragic loss of millions of trees reminds me of an important dimension of the spiritual life.  There are spiritual “beetles” that regularly seek to attack us as human beings - bitterness, envy, lust, pride, covetousness, resentment, hatred, addictions, sloth and a host of others.  These burrow into our hearts and destroy us from the inside out.  When we are spiritually healthy we are able to resist them.  When we’re not healthy, they consume us.  The practices that help us to be spiritually healthy and able to resist these kind of “beetles” include prayer, weekly worship attendance, scripture reading, being with other Christians in small groups, serving others in Christ’s name, fasting, daily reflection on your spiritual life through journaling and more.   Are you practicing these disciplines?  Are there beetles that seek to burrow their way into your heart?  Are you spiritually healthy enough to resist?