Make A Plan & Work It

I have a co-worker. Sweet woman, seriously, but...

She has a tendency to meet us at the door on days that the work load is heavy and greet us with a 'doom and gloom' thing. Going on six years now and she's just now finally realizing that I'd rather not be met with the equivalent of "Welcome to your piece of crap day!!!!"

I don't know anyone who likes to be dumped on, but it happens, yes? So when I walk to my station/case it usually only takes seconds to size up the situation, and...

light,

heavy,

or

"oh heck, what the ???"


It is what it is.

Then I set to, and try to get 'er done.

I'd like to say that I handle all challenges with great dignity and aplomb. But...no. I have my moments. I've been surprised on occasion, badly a time or two. But I've never given up, yet.

Okay, there are a couple of issues that I just haven't dealt with...and yes, when that happens, I pretty much opened up a closet, chuck IT inside, slam the door and lock it, and having no brilliant ideas on what else to do about it...leave. For the rest of it, my mantra is pretty much..."Suck it up, buttercup." Then the shoulder gets thrown to the wheel and on I go.

There are some people I know, however, who grind to a stop on a regular basis. The road blocks life throws in their way bring them to a complete halt.

I was reading the book Rhineland Inheritance by T. Davis Bunn. While not heavy, philosophical reading I found it interesting because it described the destruction of German cities following WWII. (Especially interesting for those of us searching for German genealogy records.) My great grandfather and most of his family were in Germany during the war. Times were hard. His daughter, my grandmother, sent packages with supplies and food as often as she could from America. The book tells of the aftermath of the war and the roving bands of homeless children who were orphaned or abandoned because there was no way for the parents to care for them. The army staff tasked to deal with the situation were often stressed because no matter what they did to assist it was never enough. The author noted that when dealing with death and destruction there is sorrow everywhere. He suggested, through the character of the Army Chaplin, that there are three basic choices we have when dealing with it.

1) You can let it overwhelm you, and if you do it can drive you around the bend.

2) You can lock yourself away. This is what a majority of people choose to do. Sometimes they simply refuse to deal with life, they are imprisoned within themselves. Others only allow themselves to tend to their own hunger. Still others see nothing but their own pain or hate. Because they are blinded by their own will, they view their own pain and anger as justification for other's suffering.

3) The last choice is to learn to take each day as it comes, and to do what you can with what you have. This means learning that you cannot avoid seeing the suffering of others, which is hard. I would imagine that it would be impossible to do this without the strength of God in your heart. At least a believer can respond to this suffering with prayer. But the key is to learn to do with what you have. Do not see yourself as a failure because you can't touch all who suffer. Recognize that universal healing can only come through Jesus Christ, and accept your assigned task. Then do all you can with everything you've been given.

Life has its moments of unsurpassed beauty. It also has it moments of soul crushing pain. Our job is to go onward. Some of my favorite lines of poetry come from Robert Frost's Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening:

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
 
It's okay to stop and catch your breath, or admire the view. But whether the end of the day or the end of our years here on earth, we all have miles to go, good works to do, people who need our help. IT is not about "me".
 
Best get going, eh?
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