Back in Stride
This morning I looked out the patio door window.
“Look! A fox,” I called.
“Where?”
I pointed.
“See! On the other side of the road. In front of our neighbor’s garage.”
We watched as he trotted along, full of purpose along the row of houses.
“He knows where he’s going,” I said.
He trotted along, his four dainty paws pacing a steady rhythm. This fox was on a mission. He knew where he was going. His nose pointed straight ahead and his bushy tail flowed behind. No looking back.
I turned away from the window and snapped back into my own world. How I would love to be like that fox, happily going about his business and energized with the hope of accomplishing something worthwhile.
This morning I realized I was not like that fox. I was not purposeful. I didn’t know where I was going. My nose was pointing in many directions and I was certainly not ‘bushy-tailed’! I was at a road block, stuck, jammed, unable to move ahead. There were plenty to do, things I wanted to do or needed to do. I just didn’t seem able to get at them.
And so, I was in a downward spiral. I lacked motivation. Small things frustrated me.
I needed to get out of the spin or else it would trigger a slammed door, a caustic remark to my spouse and a day of bad temper.
My thoughts roamed to a puzzling quote I read last night.
Robert H. Schuller wrote, “Again and again, the impossible problem is solved when we see that the problem is only a tough decision waiting to be made.”
It did not make much sense to me when I first read it, but now I am mulling the words over in my mind and the fog of indecision begins to clear.
I do have a tough decision to make. I have not made it and I keep shelving it because I don’t want to deal with it. That tough decision has been pushed to the back of my mind. That’s why I cannot get into the flow of things this morning.
I slip on my shoes and walk around the block, thoughtful and prayerful, but I don’t know where to start. So I begin with the Lord’s Prayer. I start to realize that our Father in Heaven is greater than the decision. I ask for His will to be done and I ask for my needs to be met. I begin to see where I was at fault and that I need grace to forgive another person. A plan takes shape and my steps quicken as I return home and pick up the phone to begin the process of making this tough decision.
The log jam is freed. The one log that was causing the jam is moving now, freeing the passage for all the others that were piled up behind it. . My spirit is free to flow again.
I smile as I remember how the fox strode along with purpose, his bushy tail floating out behind and his pointy nose straight ahead.
Now I am back in stride, my head held high and a spring in my step.
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