Eat the Frog!

"Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day."--Mark Twain

I heard this quote in a sermon when I was young. I don't know if it was the pastor or my imagination that created a young boy living on a tropical island, but a boy and a paradise island sticks in my memory. Here's how I see it.

A young boy is offered a chance on a perfect island. He gets to spend his days swimming in clear pools of cool water, running through green vegetation, playing with lizards and parrots, and eating fresh fruit. The catch is in order to stay on this island, he has to eat one frog per day.

He starts off waiting until sunset to eat the frog. He spends the morning swimming. He eats some bananas and kiwi for lunch. He finds the coolest lizard he's seen! All the while, in the back of his mind, he is dreading having to eat the frog. How will it taste? Will he be able to find a small one? He waits to the last minute while climbing trees. But then, the time is upon him. Sunset. If he doesn't eat a frog now, he will no longer live in the paradise. He finds a frog and eats it. The whole thing really didn't last long, and wasn't that bad.

After a few days like this, he gets wise. The first thing he did on the fourth day was find a frog and eat it. The weight was off his shoulders. That day was the most enjoyable of the days he's spent paradise!

Silly? Yes, I know. My imagination was a little silly, but I grew out of it. :) Actually, that makes me kind of sad that I don't imagine things as often anymore....but back to the subject!

I had to eat a frog today. As you may know, I HATE mowing the lawn. In fact, I don't remember hating anything so much! To make matters worse, my helpful neighbor is always next door watching and listening to how my mower is running, and if it is not running well or if I am not running it well, he comes over. Even worse than that, my mower is broken, and I have to borrow his.

Obviously, I had to go to church this morning, so I couldn't mow first thing. But, I did not procrastinate mowing too long, I began around 2:30. My neighbor stopped me to look at the mower because it was making a funny noise, but I got finished. Sadly, it wasn't my only frog. His mower is a rider, but I trim with a push mower. I came inside, --dreading having to finish the mowing-- chatted with Ryan, and ate a piece and a half of cherry cheesecake, and went back out to finish. I actually enjoyed the push mowing. It went more quickly than I thought it would. Whew!

Now, as I look out over the lawn, I realize that the dread of mowing had ruined my whole weekend and possibly my whole week. I knew last week that I should mow and tried to ignore the problem...until my helpful neighbor offered me the mower.

I do this in my emotional and spiritual life and my relationships, too. I might know I have a problem to work on, but ignore it...until God offers me a "mower" or the "grass grows too high." Then, God and I still have to go through the work of "mowing"--ick! There are so many times I ask God why I have to deal with it. Why can't I just go on ignoring it like So-and-So. He (or she) looks so much more comfortable than me. The truth is, God wants me to be free from those frogs I have to eat or lawns I have to mow. He urges me (sometimes has to force me) to deal with problems, so I might really enjoy my life!

Eat the frog!

Jordon :)