“You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don’t try.”
Beverly Sills, opera singer
Not long ago my wife decided she wanted to raise chickens in our back yard. She asked me to go to the library and get some books on the subject.
“That’s a waste of time,” I said. “Chickens can’t read.”
To make a long story short, my wife is now feeding the chickens and I spend my evenings reading to them.
If I asked you why did the chicken cross the road and you said to get to the other side you would be correct. But not many people know what the chicken did when he got there. I heard he was on his way to the library. Yes, I said the library. He walked in, approached the librarian and said, “BOOK, BOOK.”
To say the least the librarian thought it was a little strange for a chicken to be in a library in the first place. What was he up to? So when the chicken checked out a book and left, the librarian followed him.
The chicken crossed the road again and headed out of town. When he got to the park where there was a pond, he sat the book down in front of a frog. The frog looked at the book then turned to the chicken and said, “READ IT, READ IT.”
I heard from a reliable source that the book the chicken had checked out of the library was, Running in Faith (Devotions for Runners) published by Guideposts Books.
The moral of the story is, if a chicken and a frog can train for a marathon, you and I can too. And chances are if we follow the training plan, get inspired from the stories in the book, and trust in God, we won’t CROAK.
So tomorrow, when you hear the rooster sound off, HOP out of bed and get started. If you don’t have a rooster, set your alarm CLUCK one hour early. No excuses. Get EGG-SIDED! Don’t CHICKEN OUT.
Super successful businessman Arnold H. Glasow said, “The key to everything is patience. You get the chicken by hatching the egg, not by smashing it.
My best bet is the chicken and the frog will start out training for a 5k and once they have a CACKLING good time with that race, progress to a 10K, then a half marathon before HOPPING to the starting line of a marathon.
Helen Keller liked to say, “Life is either a daring adventure or it’s nothing.”
I’m more than certain the happiest frogs and chickens are those who every now and then leave the lily pad and fly the coup for a new adventure.
So lace up your running shoes, have some fun, and cross the road. And if you happen to see a chicken and a frog running beside you in your next race be sure and say hello.
Jerry Snider
Lancaster, Ohio
theartofbecomingawildflower 