Miracle of the Steers

The contrast of black steers standing in a white-out

Miracle of the Steers

It was a raging blizzard outside so I was glad to have been able to retreat into the warm protection of home, where I was comfortably working at my desk.

“I just saw a cow running up the street!  Where are ours?” 

The words came crashing through my calm warmth.

“I just saw them in the pasture as I drove up.”  I replied.

“They’re not there now!  They’re running up the street!”

I could hardly see out the window through the flying snow.  They could still be there, I thought.  But, I couldn’t tell for sure.

“They’re our cows and their running back down the street!”

“How could they have gotten out?”  I said, as I headed toward the door to get bundled up in preparation for braving the blizzard to heard our steers back to the safety of home.

As soon as I walked out of the door I could see nothing but blowing snow.  The flying ice was punishing my face as I stared up the street to the east and then scanned north and west hoping to see where the whirlwind steers had gone.  I saw only white!  There was no black fur punctuating the stark white horizon.  So, I decided to walk toward my big red gate to see if it had somehow been opened to assist the fleeing steers.

As I drew near the gate’s red frame, my eyes, open wide and peering through protective goggles, gawked in surprise.  There were frosted, black steers standing in their pasture, just inside an open gate!

“Good boys!” I said as I spoke their names while wrapping the chain around the anchor pole.  Then I slipped the chain into its latching-groove, just before I walked back to my garage to get a strong metal carabiner to act as containment insurance.

“That’s never happened before!” I muttered to myself as I pushed through knee high snow.  “It’s the miracle of the steers!”  I chuckled a little.  Then I paused, thinking.

It was a good thing they knew where their home was!  And, it’s a good thing they wanted to come home!  I spend lots of time and effort to make a great home for cows, so I felt lucky and rewarded.

“I hope I’ve spent enough time and effort to accomplish the same for my family and friends!”  I thought. “Being surrounded by loved ones that want to be together, not because they’re chained in, but because they want to be there for the warmth, protection and love is the true definition of home.”

It was a raging blizzard outside so I was glad to have been able to retreat into the warm protection of home, where I was comfortably working at my desk.  I felt at peace knowing that this miracle of the steers reminded me that we can all enjoy the rewarding miracle of home by giving our time and love to those that matter to us most.

Tussles & Truffles

Pioneers struggle against all odds to get what they want.

Tussles & Truffles

Are you like me?  Do you have struggles in your life?  Of course, we all have struggles.  I’ve never meet one person that hasn’t faced difficulties at one time or another.  But, for some reason many of us don’t give ourselves credit for our struggles!

Credit you ask?  How in the world could I get credit for my struggles?

Well, we give our “pioneer” ancestors credit for building the foundation for the lives we enjoy today.  For example, we revere persecuted pioneers who first crossed the Atlantic Ocean in search of freedom in the Americas.  We venerate the framers of the Constitution of the United States.  We extol the character and grit of “The Greatest Generation” who stood up and conquered aggressors who were inflicting pain and suffering across the world in the mid twentieth century.  And, we rightfully do so!

Do you and I relate to these pioneers because we’ve followed in their footsteps as pioneers ourselves?  Pioneers struggle against all odds to get what they want.  So, if you often have tussles just like our ancestors and don’t give yourself truffles, in the form of credit, like we do our foundation creating pioneers, perhaps it’s time for a change of view.  If you begin to see yourself as a pioneer and give yourself credit for the progress you’re making in your journey, could you have more joy in your life?

No.  Your journey as a pioneer doesn’t require you to wear a wig or a funny black hat.  You don’t even have to wear a uniform.  You simply have to be working against the odds to get what you want for yourself, your children and grandchildren born, or yet to be born.

Have you ever stayed up all night caring for an ill child, giving comfort and care?  Then you’re a pioneer!  Have you struggled to learn important concepts in school, or on the job so you can improve yourself?  Then you’re a pioneer!  Have you ever lost your job and struggled to find a new one, so you could support yourself and your family or others?  Then you’re a pioneer!  I could go on and on!  But, you get the point.

The hidden key to happiness is not really hidden according to Ed Diener.  Ed is a psychology professor at the University of Utah and the University of Virginia. He's a pioneer in the field of positive psychology and the study of happiness, or, as he calls it, “subjective well-being.”

“Happy people,” Diener says, “tend to have work they enjoy and devote themselves to a higher purpose, whether it’s your family or religion or some bigger things in life.”

He also says that “most happy people also have one thing in common – good, supportive social relationships.”

Pioneers struggling in any time have benefited from supportive social relationships and we could support each other toward greater happiness by recognizing everyone around us for who they really are.  Struggling Pioneers. 

Struggle binds us together as one.  It makes us better people.  It creates a stronger foundation for those coming behind us.  And, it makes the truffles of life that much sweeter! 

Let’s give ourselves, and those around us, a few more truffles as we struggle against the odds for greater happiness in the future.

Building Our Own Mountains to Climb

“She was overwhelmed with everything so we decided to give her some help!” – Kim Fish

Building Our Own Mountains to Climb

Kim and I have a mutual friend, Crickett Raulston.  She’s a delightful woman with bright, dancing eyes and a ready smile.  So, I couldn’t think of a more deserving person when Kim told me she was in a meeting, helping Crickett, when I called the other day.

Kim said, “She was overwhelmed with everything so we decided to give her some help!”

I replied, “That’s great!  It isn’t like she doesn’t know what to do.  She’s capable and smart in her business, but she’s just like the rest of us!  Sometimes we build our own mountains to climb!”

Yes.  I create my own mountains to climb as well!  There are times when tasks, everyday life events, are pushed up and grow into monumental obstacles for no apparent reason at all.  Do you know what I mean?

Are there times when you do as I do, make a small thing into a huge obstacle?  Here’s an example.  I have a call to make to someone and I put it off.  I stew about it.  I fret about it.  I make up all kinds of myths about all the bad that will assuredly happen if I pick up that phone and touch the number.  I can take such simple things and turn them into Mount Everest!  Sometimes it gets to the point that I look at “that” small thing and rather than see it for what it really is, simple, I see it as if It’s something I’ve never done before and could never, ever do.

When we were talking on the phone, Kim and I both knew of Crickett’s proficiency and experience!  She knows what to do in business and she’s capable of doing it alone, because she’s done it a million times before.  And, she’s always succeeded!  And, during that same phone call I knew that Kim had also discovered the “Mountain Busting Principle.”

Kim’s Mountain Busting Principle is:  Climbing a mountain, big or small, is always easier and more enjoyable when you’re with others who want to be there with you.  When friends and family are with you during trying times, somehow the focus shifts from the worrisome to the joy of being together.  Another one of my friends gained insight into this principle, from his girlfriend, when we were in college together.

He was having a difficult time preparing for final exams because he’d been so focused on school that his apartment had become pure chaos.  When he spoke of this frustrating circumstance to his girlfriend she dropped everything and came over to help him get his home back in order.  When she arrived he said, “You’re studying for your own exams!  You shouldn’t be here cleaning my house with me!  Why aren’t you cleaning your own apartment?”

She replied, “Because, if I was cleaning my own place, I’d simply be cleaning.  But, when I’m here cleaning, I’m with you!”

“I’m with you!”  Her insightful words came rushing back through my heart as I spoke with Kim.  She was helping Crickett!  And, they were climbing life’s mountain with joy because they were together.