Be thankful, grateful, patient, charitable, kind, and don’t forget to smile, as it is infectious. God Bless America and Protect Our President and Military!
Fear & Courage -The only way to handle fear is with faith, courage, and confidence in oneself. We all have times in our lives where we need to face fear and doubt. Many things in my day are much different from today’s world of texting, messaging, chatting, and the like. e.g., As a kid, if you wanted to ask a girl to the dance or on a date, you first had to call the house phone and hope she answered. Most of the time, it was her dad, mom, or, worst of all, big brother, who wanted to know why you were calling. Ugh!
Who hasn’t had to face the street or school bullies? I am a pretty big guy who could handle himself, and I played sports and had many friends. I used to look out for friends who were being picked on, especially by crowds or gangs. Not a big fan!
Doubt & Courage – A few years ago, while on vacation in Alaska, we selected various excursions, one of which was ziplining through the trees in Ketchikan, crossing rope bridges, and rappelling down three stories. While ziplining 150′ in the air from tree to tree like Tarzan might not seem like a big deal, you could actually look down and see brown bears eating in the stream below.
Picture eight people with 2 guides standing on a platform 4′ around, a five-foot around 100-plus-year-old Sitka Spruce tree on the sie of a mountain. Nancy was so scared at the ride up the mountain to the zip cabin she said, “I’d rather zip over bears than face the ride back down.” Hey! Here comes Nancy now, scoot around and make room!
I volunteered to do the second zip as everyone else was looking to see who would go first. What I didn’t know was that the guide placed a two-rung stepstool on the very edge of the platform, then hooked you up while you looked down 150′ below to two big old fat bears eating salmon from the riverbed! My only piece of advice is to avoid being the “Tree Hugger,” or you’ll never hear the end of it.
You see fear and doubt come along in one way or another in most folks’ lives. In those moments, I can only recommend what Matt Damon told his son, much of what my dad preached to us kids, in the movie “I Bought A Zoo”. His son asked about seeing his mother through a shop window for the first time and going into the store to ask her out. He said, “I was nervous, my hands were sweaty, and I prayed that God would give me 30 seconds of courage, but I couldn’t pass this chance up.” So, all you need in life is to take a deep breath and 30 seconds of courage.”
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