What’s on your resolution list this year? (Pretty much the same things as last year?) The expression my grandpa often made truly applies in all areas of our lives where we want and need changes made…eating that big old elephant one bite at a time! So often the problems that need changed are so huge and overwhelming that we feel helpless to tackle. If you HAD to eat an elephant, you’re going to accomplish it one little bite at a time, over, and over, and over again. That helps me understand that my problems are more manageable and within my ability to deal with if I don’t focus on the enormity of them but rather, what can I do daily, even three times a day, that will whittle down the problem until its gone.
Would you consciously eat rat poison? Would you deliberately add formaldehyde to your beverage? Of course not! You understand the consequences of suffering and death—even a painful death.
Are you worried about violent crime or the dangers of catching the wrong strain of the flu? Do you do everything you reasonably can to protect your family from dangers?
For most of us, living pro-active is normal—we want to avoid danger, pain, and premature death. As parents we strive to provide our children with every available advantage in life—from extra-curricular activities in school, church, and community to education development. We’re quick to remove poisons from under the counters in our homes when we’ve got toddlers underfoot. We’re quick to lock up guns to keep foolish adolescents from having accidents with them. We teach our kids to look both ways before crossing the street and of the dangers of talking to strangers.
Would it surprise you then, to hear that the number one threat to your family—that the gravest danger your family faces and the most likely form of pain, suffering, and even death have NOTHING to do with accidents or bad people?
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