Food for Thought Tuesday: Going Forward By Backing Up...
Feeling in need of a little enlightenment? Then I hope you enjoy this story...
"One night, or early morning, around 1:00am, there was a lull in my particular assembly-line job, so I decided to run to a nearby all-night grocery store to buy treats for everyone who was working the night shift. I told a couple of my colleagues where I was going, that I'd be back in half an hour, and dashed out the door. Moments later I was zipping unobstructed along a thoroughfare on the west side of the Salt Lake Valley when suddenly, BAM! I hit something, and hit it hard. My adrenaline began pumping out of control as the horrifying though that I had hit someone flashed across my mind. At the same time, the car began to vibrate and veer sharply to the right, and it was all I could do to steer the vehicle to the side of the road before it came to a dead stop.
I hunted unsuccessfully for a flashlight, got out of the car and down on my hands and knees, and peered under the engine compartment. It seemed unusually dark, and all I could see was something big and black wedged between the road and the undercarriage. I couldn't tell if the big black thing was what I'd hit and dragged along, or if somehow I'd dislodged the engine itself and it had fallen to the ground. At the moment, that seemed irrelevant anyway, because the car would not budge regardless. I got back in the driver's seat, offered a prayer, found a number for roadside assistance, and reached an operator. Explaining that my vehicle was completely disabled, I told him I needed a wrecker, and pronto, because I was in a warehouse district at 1:30 in the morning--alone. To make matters a little more interesting, off in the distance, about a block away, I could see what looked like a group of men heading my way.
The operator seemed but marginally interested in my plight, and I was on hold for what seemed like the duration of Gone With The Wind. Finally he came back with the news that he'd located a wrecker but that it would be two hours before he could get there. "Oh no!" I blurted. "In two hours, I'll be dead...or at least maimed. Please, you've got to find someone who can come sooner." Again he put me on hold, until finally I hung up, offered another prayer, and was about to call 911 when a police car with red rotating lights pulled up behind me. I can't remember ever having been happy to see those rotating red lights before--particulary behind me--but that night I was ecstatic, and I breathed for the first time in an hour.
A kind officer quickly assessed the situation, pulled out his flashlight, and peered underneath the car. It was as he was saying that he couldn't tell either exactly what had happened, when a thought suddenly occurred to me--a thought that certainly would have saved a lot of time and grief if it had come one hour earlier. Nonetheless, I said to the officer, "I wonder if I should try backing up. The car won't go forward, not even an inch, but if that black thinkg is what I hit, maybe backing up would dislodge it." He agreed it was worth a try, so I got in the car, put it in reverse, and backed up a few inches, at which poing an ugly, black, metal object popped out. "Oh my goodness," the officer said, holding up the heavy, misshapen object, "do you know what this is?" I shook my head no. I'd never seen anything like what he was holding. "It's a street lamp," he said. "No wonder it's so dark on this stretch of road." He pointed up at the top of a nearby lamppost that was conspicuously absent a street lamp.
We checked underneath the car to make sure nothing had been punctured, I thanked him for his help, and a few moments later, I was back in my car once again zipping down the road as though nothing had happened.
There are three lessons from the Parable of the Street Lamp. First, when thre's no light, it's dark. For "that which doth not edify is not of God, and is darkness." On the other hand, "that which is of God is light; and he that receieveth light, and coninueth in God, receiveth more light; and that light groweth brighter and brigther until the perfect day. (D&C 50:23-24). To what end? "That you may chase darkness from among you" (D&C 50:25). Jesus Christ is the source of all light. When He's not present, it's dark, hard to see, and we're much more likely to hit big, ugly objects along the way.
Second, even though that metal street lamp was heavy (about forty pounds) and big (two feet in diameter), compared to the size of my SUV, it was small. And yet that relatively small object completely disabled my vehicle and stopped my forward progress. The message? When our forward progress stops, particularly our forward spiritual progress, it almost always starts with something relatively small. We refuse to apologize, or to accept an apology. We stop praying or become lax in our personal worship and study. We tell a little lie, which we later have to cover with a bigger lie, and on it goes. We promise to do soemthing we never intended to do, or couldn't resist passing along a story about a friend, or decided that when our bishop didn't handle something particularly well we'd choose to be offended, and on and on.
When our forward-moving spirtual progress stops, that process almost always begins with something small. "
--taken from God Wants a Powerful People by Sheri Dew
So today, my blog friends, I ask you.. "What is your 'streetlight'?" What little obstacle is preventing you from reaching your full potential? Your forward progression? What is one thing that you can do today to start back on the right track?
Make a choice, today, to make a change. It doesn't have to be something large that you need to change or work on, in fact, I've found that the larger a task is the more difficult it is to do. Try something small...take baby steps (that's my personal mantra...baby steps, baby steps) and if you do, I promise you that in time you'll look back and realize the cumulative result of all those baby steps along the way.
Blessings and love to you all. I hope you have wonderful day!
Love Lisa
"One night, or early morning, around 1:00am, there was a lull in my particular assembly-line job, so I decided to run to a nearby all-night grocery store to buy treats for everyone who was working the night shift. I told a couple of my colleagues where I was going, that I'd be back in half an hour, and dashed out the door. Moments later I was zipping unobstructed along a thoroughfare on the west side of the Salt Lake Valley when suddenly, BAM! I hit something, and hit it hard. My adrenaline began pumping out of control as the horrifying though that I had hit someone flashed across my mind. At the same time, the car began to vibrate and veer sharply to the right, and it was all I could do to steer the vehicle to the side of the road before it came to a dead stop.
I hunted unsuccessfully for a flashlight, got out of the car and down on my hands and knees, and peered under the engine compartment. It seemed unusually dark, and all I could see was something big and black wedged between the road and the undercarriage. I couldn't tell if the big black thing was what I'd hit and dragged along, or if somehow I'd dislodged the engine itself and it had fallen to the ground. At the moment, that seemed irrelevant anyway, because the car would not budge regardless. I got back in the driver's seat, offered a prayer, found a number for roadside assistance, and reached an operator. Explaining that my vehicle was completely disabled, I told him I needed a wrecker, and pronto, because I was in a warehouse district at 1:30 in the morning--alone. To make matters a little more interesting, off in the distance, about a block away, I could see what looked like a group of men heading my way.
The operator seemed but marginally interested in my plight, and I was on hold for what seemed like the duration of Gone With The Wind. Finally he came back with the news that he'd located a wrecker but that it would be two hours before he could get there. "Oh no!" I blurted. "In two hours, I'll be dead...or at least maimed. Please, you've got to find someone who can come sooner." Again he put me on hold, until finally I hung up, offered another prayer, and was about to call 911 when a police car with red rotating lights pulled up behind me. I can't remember ever having been happy to see those rotating red lights before--particulary behind me--but that night I was ecstatic, and I breathed for the first time in an hour.
A kind officer quickly assessed the situation, pulled out his flashlight, and peered underneath the car. It was as he was saying that he couldn't tell either exactly what had happened, when a thought suddenly occurred to me--a thought that certainly would have saved a lot of time and grief if it had come one hour earlier. Nonetheless, I said to the officer, "I wonder if I should try backing up. The car won't go forward, not even an inch, but if that black thinkg is what I hit, maybe backing up would dislodge it." He agreed it was worth a try, so I got in the car, put it in reverse, and backed up a few inches, at which poing an ugly, black, metal object popped out. "Oh my goodness," the officer said, holding up the heavy, misshapen object, "do you know what this is?" I shook my head no. I'd never seen anything like what he was holding. "It's a street lamp," he said. "No wonder it's so dark on this stretch of road." He pointed up at the top of a nearby lamppost that was conspicuously absent a street lamp.
We checked underneath the car to make sure nothing had been punctured, I thanked him for his help, and a few moments later, I was back in my car once again zipping down the road as though nothing had happened.
There are three lessons from the Parable of the Street Lamp. First, when thre's no light, it's dark. For "that which doth not edify is not of God, and is darkness." On the other hand, "that which is of God is light; and he that receieveth light, and coninueth in God, receiveth more light; and that light groweth brighter and brigther until the perfect day. (D&C 50:23-24). To what end? "That you may chase darkness from among you" (D&C 50:25). Jesus Christ is the source of all light. When He's not present, it's dark, hard to see, and we're much more likely to hit big, ugly objects along the way.
Second, even though that metal street lamp was heavy (about forty pounds) and big (two feet in diameter), compared to the size of my SUV, it was small. And yet that relatively small object completely disabled my vehicle and stopped my forward progress. The message? When our forward progress stops, particularly our forward spiritual progress, it almost always starts with something relatively small. We refuse to apologize, or to accept an apology. We stop praying or become lax in our personal worship and study. We tell a little lie, which we later have to cover with a bigger lie, and on it goes. We promise to do soemthing we never intended to do, or couldn't resist passing along a story about a friend, or decided that when our bishop didn't handle something particularly well we'd choose to be offended, and on and on.
When our forward-moving spirtual progress stops, that process almost always begins with something small. "
--taken from God Wants a Powerful People by Sheri Dew
So today, my blog friends, I ask you.. "What is your 'streetlight'?" What little obstacle is preventing you from reaching your full potential? Your forward progression? What is one thing that you can do today to start back on the right track?
Make a choice, today, to make a change. It doesn't have to be something large that you need to change or work on, in fact, I've found that the larger a task is the more difficult it is to do. Try something small...take baby steps (that's my personal mantra...baby steps, baby steps) and if you do, I promise you that in time you'll look back and realize the cumulative result of all those baby steps along the way.
Blessings and love to you all. I hope you have wonderful day!
Love Lisa
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