CAUTION: POTHOLES AHEAD!!!!!

My grandmother lives in a tiny area in central Louisiana.  It's a wonderful place that I absolutely love to visit when I can.  The grass is always a gorgeous green, especially after a spring rain.  The trees sway in the breeze so softly that if you are sitting in her front porch swing, you'll find yourself swaying with them.  Across the road is the mailbox which sits right next to the old tree where my grandpa once had a table for cleaning the catfish he would catch on Little River.  The garden is out back, behind the clothes line, and behind that is a great big field where the cows used to hang out when they still had them.  Down the hill is the old barn right next to the family cemetary.  But to get to this beautiful place can sometimes be a daunting task.  Nobody turns down that road unless they know where they are going and if they do, they usually have no idea where they will end up.  It depends on the police jury and if they are fixing a bridge or how many years it's been since they filled the potholes.  It's those potholes.  Way too many to count, which got me thinking about life.  So here we go.

It's a great feeling when life seems to be running pretty smooth.  The kids are doing good, jobs are good, you have it all and the blessings seem abundant.  It's like God has us driving on this nice, freshly paved highway leading to a beautiful sunset.  But then all of a sudden, with no detour signs or warnings, that highway turns into a bumpy gravel road full of potholes.  If you aren't getting the idea, those potholes are our life problems.  Things that appear out of nowhere and make us grab the wheel a little tighter to stay in control.  Our family has recently hit a pretty big pothole.  This made me start thinking about how we should address it.  I came up with three ways we can deal with "potholes" in our lives and thought I'd share them with you guys.

1.  Swerve!  You see every single pothole in your life and your first instinct is to completely avoid them.  You don't want to hit any of those potholes and risk doing any damage to the car (yourself).  So pretty much, you don't want a hurt ego or hurt feelings and you think you can deal with all these issues on your own or by avoiding them.  Should you accidentally hit one, you cringe at the thought of facing it head-on.  The problem with this method is that it takes you forever to get to the end of the bumpy road.  You're moving slowly, swerving all over the place to avoid any problems or issues and the next time you have to go down a pot-holed road, it'll still scare the bajeebies out of you because you don't know how to face it.  Stop swerving around your big problems.  It's time to find another method.

2.  Slow down!  Ugh!  I can't stand to drive slow.  Seriously.  In this method, as you face the bumpy road you prepare to hit every pothole.  It doesn't matter how big or small.  Everything seems to be an issue that you have to face.  You can't let anything go unnoticed.  The problem with this method is that you see every pothole as something that must be addressed.  Not every pothole is a problem though that needs to be dealt with.  How much time are you wasting going slowly, letting everything get to you?  Letting the devil make you think that every issue you have is a huge problem?  We need to ease up on ourselves and give ourselves a break from thinking that we need to fix every pothole in our roads.  I agree that those big ones definitely need to be addressed but if you hit every pothole at a slow speed, you'll end up hitting your head on the roof of the car.  In real terms, how much of headache would you have if you are constantly trying to solve some of the simplest of problems that usually end up solving themselves?

3.  Steady pace!  Oh, this is my favorite.  When going to my grandma's, I've always told my husband, "the faster you go, the less potholes you'll feel.....we'll fly right over them!"  He hasn't always agreed with my idea, but it does work somewhat.  If you find a steady pace, you'll see that those small potholes aren't even an issue.  You really do just fly right over them.  Life is the same.  It's like the book by Richard Carlson, Don't Sweat the Small Stuff.  No, really...don't.  We need to focus on the road ahead and work through those larger potholes.  You're going to feel them.  They are there.  But keep up your steady pace and keep going.  Yes, some may hurt your feelings or your ego, but they have to be addressed.  Nobody has a smooth life.  No matter how much we see in the media and how great a life a celebrity may have, I promise they have their own potholes too.

There you have it.  My methods to driving down this bumpy road we call life.  As for our current family pothole, we'll get through it.  There's no guarantee we won't feel some affects from it, but I promise it won't stop us from pressing the gas and moving on.

Some folks might even ask, "what happens if you get stuck in a pothole?"  Think of life the same way.  Get some traction and try again.  If all else fails, call that friend who has the winch ready and always knows how to work it. (ie. knows what to say to help you through)

I understand this post can seem confusing, as they usually are, but what I want us all to remember is that life's potholes do not have to be faced alone.  There is always someone there for you even when you believe differently.  Call a friend, call a family member, call your pastor.  If you feel you don't have that, call any pastor at a nearby church and I know he would be willing to listen and help you.

Find your pace, y'all!

Until next time....