STEWING IS WORSE THAN DOING

“If you have to eat a big ugly frog, you don’t want to look at it too long.”

Bubba Brown

 

A little boy spent most of the day walking around the block where he lived. Finally one of his neighbors asked him what he was doing.

“I’m running away from home,” the little boy said.

“How can you run away if you stay on the same block?” the neighbor asked.

The little boy answered, “I’m not allowed to cross the street.”

At times running away seems like a pretty good idea. I tried it a couple of times but I didn’t get very far. The truth is no matter where you go, there you are. Running away from a problem does not solve it.

Win, lose, or draw the best thing to do is stand up to whatever is in the way and take action.

On the subject of action, Winston Churchill had this to say, “I like things to happen; and if they don’t happen, I like to make them happen.”

Theodore Roosevelt said, “Get action. Do things; be sane; don’t fritter away your time; create, act, take a place wherever you are and be somebody; get action.”

Rocky Blier played football for the champion Pittsburgh Steelers. He was joyfully living his dream until he was drafted into the army and sent to Vietnam. An enemy grenade ripped off part of his foot.

Doctors told him he would never walk or run normally. They also told him his football career was over.

Rocky told the doctors they were wrong. He would walk and he would run. And if his football career was over, he preferred to find out on the playing field.

Rocky got back in shape. He learned to walk and run with what was left of his foot. He came back and once again played championship football for the Steelers. Rocky knew the difference between stewing and doing. He took action. Suppose it turned out that he couldn’t play football. In my opinion he would still be a winner because he had the courage to try.

It may not be a grenade blowing your foot off but sooner or later, life is going to clobber you. That’s for sure. So get clobbered chasing your dream. Every piece of you is going to be glad you tried.

Referring to matters of the heart Tennyson wrote, “It is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.”

Theodore Roosevelt got it right. He said, “Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failures, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.”

 

STOP STEWING AND START DOING!

 

“For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”

2 Timothy 1:7

 

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ONE STEP AT A TIME

“Some people walk in the rain, others just get wet.”

Roger Miller, singer and songwriter

 

I’ve been running since 1986.

No.

I’m not running from the law or a bill collector.

I began running as therapy for depression. I’m feeling better, thank you, but I’m still running.

I’ve run in so many kinds of weather that I’m more than qualified to work for the post office delivering mail. Today, I ran three miles in the rain. It felt great. A warm spring day, no chill in the air. I laughed and splashed my way down the road.

Funny thing about rain…

Sometimes it drizzles.

Sometimes it comes down in sheets.

Sometimes it comes down in buckets.

Sometimes it sprinkles.

Sometimes it rains cats and dogs.

Funny thing about trouble, it’s a lot like rain.

Sometimes it drizzles.

Sometimes it comes down in sheets.

Sometimes it comes down in buckets.

Sometimes it sprinkles.

Every now and then Snoopy, from the comic strip, Peanuts, can be found sitting on top of his doghouse, hammering away on a typewriter. His stories often begin with, “It was a dark and stormy night.” I think Snoopy had me in mind because 1986 was a dark and stormy time in my life. Sometimes it seemed the night and the rain would never end. I began treatment for depression. The doctor prescribed medication and suggested I begin running everyday.

At a track near my home, I began running quarter-mile laps. For a long time it was the best part of my day. I was getting pretty good at running in circles when I saw a notice in the paper for a 10K race.

I wasn’t sure how far 10K was but I signed up. It turned out to be 6.2 miles and I finished in good shape.

My confidence was building. I signed up for a 10-mile race and finished it too. Now, looming on the horizon was The Columbus Marathon, a 26.2 mile race. At the time I wasn’t even sure the car I had could be driven 26 miles. It seemed a long way to run. Still, I had nothing to lose. A few months later I became part of a 6,000 runner stampede thundering through the streets of Columbus.

How do you run 26.2 miles?

One step at a time…left foot, right foot, a whole bunch of times.

That’s what I did.

I was tired. I was cold. I was sore.

Did I want to quit?

Yes.

Did I quit?

No.

As the Japanese say, “The dog that wags it’s tail won’t be beaten.”

I finished that marathon race and so far 40 more just like it.

You have to run life the same way.

One step at a time, one day at a time, and no matter what keep wagging your tail. There will one day be a rainbow.

 

“In God have I put my trust: I will not be afraid…”

Psalm 56:11

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CARTWHEELS AND MUD PIES

“There are no seven wonders of the world in the eyes of a child. There are seven million.”

Walt Streightiff, author

 

Not long ago on my way home from work I stopped at the grocery store. I was hungry and I was in a hurry. I grabbed a shopping cart and began zooming up one aisle and down the next, tossing what I needed into the basket. As I rounded the corner, heading for the oatmeal, just a few feet ahead of me was a young girl and her mother. While the mother was flipping through some coupons, the little girl began doing cartwheels down the isle.

The mother looked up long enough to say, “Stop it. Act your age.”

It seemed to me the little girl was acting her age. Perhaps the grocery store is not the ideal place to be doing cartwheels, but then again, maybe it is. Maybe we would all be better adults if we learned to be better children. In the middle of our worry and hurry just suppose we stopped long enough to do a few cartwheels or something else just as silly.

When was the last time you made a mud pie? When was the last time you played with a Yo Yo?

When was the last time you flew a kite?

I agree with Robert Ingersoll who wrote, “The time to be happy is now, the place to be happy is here.”

Have you ever noticed that wherever children are they can find a way to have fun? What are we grown ups waiting for? True, there is plenty of trouble in the world, but there is also a million ways to have fun. Don’t postpone joy.

Once upon a time a little old lady was driving her car down the road. On the seat beside her was a pig. A Highway Patrolman stopped her for speeding. While the officer was writing out the ticket, the little old lady explained that she found the pig walking down the road and didn’t know what to do with it. The officer told her to take the pig to the zoo.

The very next day the very same little old lady was driving down the very same road with the very same pig still on the very same seat beside her. Once again the very same Highway Patrolman stopped her for speeding. When he saw the pig beside her he said, “I thought I told you to take that pig to the zoo.”

The little old lady smiled then said to the officer, “I did take the pig to the zoo and he had such a great time that today, after lunch, I’m going to take him to the circus.”

Today, be childlike and have some fun. Go to the zoo. Go to the circus. And if you don’t have someone to go with, take a pig.

 

“A merry heart doeth good like a medicine.”

Proverbs 17:22

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