Sometimes I like to sit around and quietly whine to myself about how bad I have it. The payment is due on my new Durango, my four bedroom, two story house costs a lot of money to cool in the summer, my overachieving children demand a lot of cash-flow in order to continue their pattern of taking music lessons, attending camps and conferences, and keeping entertained. If I want to watch the Iowa Hawkeyes this fall, I’ll have to cancel my subscription to cable and go with Direct TV. What a pain! About the time I start feeling sorry for myself, I open my eyes to the world around me and realize that most of my “pain” in self inflicted, and the things I call pain tend to be other people’s luxuries. The reality of the matter is I’m spoiled. Our Mission Team just returned home from a week on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota, where we spent a lot of time walking the streets getting to know the local residents. The reservation is a place where living in poverty and addiction to drugs and alcohol is a normal way of life. While my 17-year-old daughter is entering her senior year of high school, the most stressful thing in her life is trying to decide exactly which college she wants to attend next fall. By the time girls on the reservation are 17 years old they may already be single moms with multiple children and are trying to figure out how to feed their family their next meal. I returned home from our trip feeling very grateful. I met a ton of really great people, found some new friends, and discovered that I really have no legitimate reason to whine about anything in my life. If I don’t like the price of gas, I can drive less. If I don’t like my car payment, I can sell my car and pay cash for my next one. If I don’t like the power bill, I can turn off the air conditioner and throw a few fans in the windows. It seemed to work okay for my new friends from the reservation.
A Day in the Life
August 14, 2007
August 03, 2007
Get Up!
They were dropping like flies all around me. Everywhere I looked children were falling to the ground. With each thump and thud I could "feel their pain." I wondered how these children had the tenacity keep getting up after each fall. Why they were so eager to go back for more.
The music was playing, the atmosphere was festive, and parents were bringing in their children for a great time of skating at the ice rink. Some wore hats, others had on shorts, but all of them were wearing big bright smiles.
Some of the kids were like little daredevils, darting in and out of traffic, dodging walls and trying to avoid slower moving skaters. Others were cautiously scooting along, legs stiff as boards and arms outstretched, ready at any moment to break a fall. Although they all seemed to have different styles and levels of skill, they all had one thing in common; the floor. Yes, they were learning the cold hard reality of life; we all fall and take tumbles. The problem is, as you grow older, the falls and tumbles become more complex. And its gets harder and harder to get right back up with a smile on your face.
I'll never forget breaking up with my first "real" girl friend. We had dated for over three years - just long enough to know we weren't meant for each other. It was very painful to go our separate ways, but we both knew it had to happen. That was a tumble I hadn't quite anticipated.
Years later I received a two-page letter from my dad. He wrote about the weather, his garden and all the usual things he wrote about in a typical letter. At the very bottom of the second page he ended with the sentence, "oh, by the way, the doctors found a tumor the size of an apple in my lung. Love, dad." Six weeks later I was standing in front of family and friends, telling them what a great guy my dad was and what I had learned from him. My brother read a few scriptures and leaned over and kissed dad's coffin. It took a long time to smile after that fall.
Of course there have been many other times that I have been gliding down the streets of life, happy as a lark, when suddenly my feet came out from under me. As a matter of fact, I’ll bet you could tell similar stories of times you have fallen. Most of us could tell stories of bruised egos, or deep emotional scars that have been left behind from some unexpected tumble. A marriage that didn't work. A child who rebelled. An unwelcomed health crisis. There are times when we all feel like the lady who said "I've fallen and I can't get up"!
Maybe this is a time when we can learn from our own children. When they fall down they may cry, they may be a little scared, but they always go back for more. Sometimes they need a little reassurance and a pat on the head from Mom or Dad, but before long, they are smiling and back at it again.
Maybe we could even learn from our own advice. When our children fall down, we give them a hug and a kiss, and send them on their way. We become their biggest fans, their loudest cheerleaders. If you spend enough time at the skating rink, you will hear in between the festive music and the laughter of children playing, the familiar words of a parent: "You can do it!" "Don't give up!" "Keep trying!" "You'll get it right!" Parents say things like that because they know that in between the bumps and bruises, the falls and tumbles, there is a whole lot of fun and enjoyment to be had at the skating rink. And they know that the only way to become a better skater is to get up after a fall and try again.
The same is true with those more complex falls that you experience as an adult. We become better people when we get up after a tumble, wipe off the dust, and carry on. Sometimes it takes a little longer to get up, and sometimes the pain is deeper, but we must get up.
If you have experienced a tumble recently, I want to be one of your biggest fans. Today, I want to be the one to say, "You can do it!" "Don't give up!" "Keep trying!" "You'll get it right!" I can say that because I know that in between the bumps and bruises, the falls and tumbles, there is a lot of joy and happiness that can be found in this voyage we call life. And I know that with the help of God, you will be a stronger person if you don't give up.
