The boys were home last weekend along with my nephew and his lovely bride. We hung out and watched some football. It was a nice Saturday. With the help of my youngest son, I got out the fire pit and set it up in the yard. We got some wood and with a generous dousing of lighter fluid (be prepared,) orange flames soon tickled the starry sky. Jokes were told and stories were shared. Soon the wood was reduced to glowing embers. By the end of the evening, the mosquitoes were mounting a frontal assault so we called it a night.
The next morning, my youngest son and I moved the fire pit back into its home. Underneath it was a burned patch of grass. Now it looks like I have a mini crop circle in the middle of my yard. Drat. So much for yard of the month, right? My neighbor suggested I paint the brown, dead grass green. I decided against that — it reminded me too much of the hair spray paint they sold in 80’s that apparently Rudy Giuliani still uses on his hair — and vowed to watch it to see if it would come back on its own.
A few days later, I am pleased to report there are four or five springs of grass fighting for a come back. Never underestimate life. Even with its back against the wall, it will rally. Or at least adjust. But for that to happen, it requires work to be done.
There are times when I feel like things are hopeless. That I am stuck and have nothing in my power to make things better. Lord knows I spent years stuck at the Clarion-Ledger in a bad situation because I didn’t think I had any other options — there couldn’t have been anything further from the truth! Like the green grass, I had the power in me to make a comeback — the only think stopping me was myself. Then one day I took a leap and now am in a happier situation. I stumbled across this quote in a book called Hope Rising by Casey Gwinn, J.D. & Chan Hellman, Ph.D. that spoke to me.
“Infuse your life with action. Don’t wait for it to happen. MAKE IT HAPPEN. Make your own future. Make your own hope. Make your own love. And whatever your beliefs, honor your creator, not by passively waiting for grace to come down from upon high, but by doing what you can to make grace happen…yourself, right now, right down here on Earth.” Bradley Whitford.
First of all, that fires me up every time I read it. MAKE IT HAPPEN! Hope is a super power — and is that spark of life the grass is showing. But it requires work and it requires support. My will when I was at the CL was low because I couldn’t see the way and my support was low. Be that support for someone else. Will the grass comeback? I don’t know — but I’ll help it however I can. It has shown me it has the will. I’ll show it the way.