Monday, I truly enjoyed reading everyone’s comments to me. I want you all to know that I really just needed to get what I wrote yesterday out there. I wanted it said. But I also knew as I wrote it that almost all of you would have no problems with whatever I write. It was said for one or two of you I think may decide to walk away… and, now I’m okay with that!
Yesterday was a writing day… Not as in writing for my blog, but my writing for the National Novel Writing Month event. I’m in serious danger of not getting this done on time! I’m a gnat’s hair shy of 40,000 words. The goal to “win” is 50,000. I can sit down and write a couple of chapters at a time, approaching 5000 but it just wrings me out, and I end up sitting out for a few days before I get inspiration for the next dash. With five days left in the competition, though, I cannot afford any more “sitting out days”. And I have company coming Wednesday! J, I know you read this, I may have to take an hour or two away from your company to write write write!
So, now, on to other things.
If you recall, Sunday morning I reported that there was snow on the ground, and that I had to carry Ixchel to the dog green. That morning, I put on the new harnesses on both of the girls. This is going to be a daily challenge. Nikki does not like it, and resists my efforts to put it on. I grumble, I growl, and I get frustrated. Then I have to love her, because I feel guilty for grumbling and growling at her and getting frustrated with her. Ixchel is easier to manhandle, and I get the harness on with little problem. However, that is not the end of it!
As we set out, Sunday morning, with their pretty new harnesses, into the snowy wilderness, I noticed Ixchel was not pulling me on as she normally does for that first walk of the morning. And, indeed, the leash felt different. I turned and realized she was behind me. She was not walking, but instead was being pulled through the slush. I assumed she didn’t like the cold and wet, so I picked her up and carried her.
The walk home was a little slower than usual, but she walked on her own. Several times, during the day, however, she had to be carried to the park. Then she’d slowly walk home. It finally dawned on me that she doesn’t like the harness. It’s not too tight or to loose as we first thought. She is just resistant to the change.
It came to me in church at some point that I’m a lot like Ixchel. How often, I wonder do I have to be dragged along, grumbling, resisting? How often do I have to be carried? I don’t think I mean like that old poem about footprints in the sand.
I’m thinking of having change forced on me because I am unwilling to change on my own. In a way, the day my BB (Big Brother) confronted me about being gay was a “pick me up and carry me moment”. Had BB not done what he did, who knows how the next years would have come about?
I guess what I’m saying is this… there are times when I am so dang pig-headed that no matter what happens around me, I have to be picked up and removed from one space, plopped down into another before I “get it”.
Then again… this pretty well describes everyone, right?
DAILY GRATITUDE
I’m grateful, today, that I have friends.
PRAYER INTENTIONS
“God seeks shalom at every level of life, from cells to community and nations. Our unique calling is to bring God’s shalom to our relationships and the world.” — Bruce G. Epperly
This week, no new tile. Please continue to pray for my brother, who is still in need of prayer, as he recovers from heart surgery. Thank you!
On The Road II 