Mother Nature seems to be in a bit of personal crises. The weather is warming and cooling. Freezing and thawing.
One minute bright sunshine, the next severe winter weather is breathing down your neck.
Rain. Snow. Black Ice. Sleet. Sludge. Mud. Freezing Fog. The weather people show maps lit up like the aurora borealis.
So happy that they are finally able to use all of their fancy schmancy technology to describe what is happening or going to happen or what just happened.
With all of this weather, one thing is for certain: potholes! They appear like magic. One day your commute is smooth and calm. The next day, attentive drivers must swerve to miss a gaping hole in the pavement. (Unlucky drivers, not able to see disaster looming ahead, are treated to a body-jarring jolt.)
Encounter a sufficient number of potholes, and your car is going to need an alignment to put everything back in proper place. That’s how potholes work — for the unprepared, the unsuspecting, the inattentive, they can be disasterous.
I saw a sign at an auto garage the other day that said, “Need a front end alignment?” I was immediately struck by how many people need an alignment to their attitude. Oh, that we could just drive up to a garage and order an attitude adjustment.
You know how it is. You’re going along, singing your song, birds are singing, things are fine and then suddenly you encounter a pothole!
“Whew!” you think, as you safely swerve around it. “Glad I avoided that disaster.”
But before long, as is often the case, you fall victim to a circumstance of some type or another. Something you had little, if any, control over. If you’re not diligent, life’s potholes can negatively affect your attitude. And if that happens — watch out — you’re going to need an alignment!
Often, it’s not the huge things that get to us. No, we see those coming and we’re able to prepare to face them head on.
What we have to guard against are the small, seemingly insignificant problems we encounter every day as we go about our business. Those are the things that slowly get us off track — little by little — until one day, we wake up to discover our attitude needs a serious alignment.
Be attentive. Watch where you’re going. Don’t fall prey to the little challenges you encounter daily. For if you’re not careful, they will combine into a large, seemingly insurmountable obstacle. As Ralph J. Bunche said,
You can surmount the obstacles in your path if you are determined, courageous and hard-working.
Never be fainthearted. Be resolute, but never bitter . . .
Permit no one to dissuade you from pursuing the goals you set for yourselves.
Do not fear to pioneer, to venture down new paths of endeavor.
Whatever you are, watch out for the potholes in your path!
Deanna
Whatever You Are, Be a Good One 