Have Faith and Live With It

Merry Christmas and Happy almost New Year!
As another year comes to a close I again feel happy to have survived it. I haven’t experienced nearly as many death-defying adventures as I have in the past. My desire of knowingly tempting fate has drastically been reduced. My body’s limitations have become more pronounced recently and maybe – just maybe – I’ve grown a bit wiser.
Risk is a four-letter word that I had used quite often, but it has pretty much faded from my vocabulary. It has been replaced with two others - slow and easy. Life is better that way. I may not be able to literally stop and smell the roses in rural Alaska, but I do improvise. I pause now and then and smell whatever I want whenever I want to. It doesn’t take much time, especially when it is cold outside.
There is always something to do at work or home to keep me busy, but I’ve realized something after 46 years on God’s Green Earth. No matter how stressful or frustrating your work is you can’t get it all done in a day. It took God almost a week to finish project Earth. With the demands of our present society it is easy to get overwhelmed – and even harder to remember that you will get the important things done each day. Things do come together in the end, especially if you live on faith.
However, you need to prioritize your undertakings. For instance, the first item on God’s list when He tackled the impossible Earth Project was to turn the light on. It is still on. You just have to open your eyes.
Look around you and at first you will notice both bad and good. Now peer a bit closer and you can make out the good in everything. Sometimes emotions will blind your thinking and all you can do is dwell on the negative aspects of the situation and how it affects YOU without regards to others.
Take today, December 15, 2007, for example. I’m in Nunapitchuk chaperoning the Junior High Basketball Team. A few weeks ago, I had told the coach and site administrator that I would be happy to chaperone when needed. It turned out that this was the time and what did I do? I immediately thought of how my helping out would affect my schedule and my plans. My enthusiasm wasn’t very high, but then someone told me that if a certified teacher didn’t go, then the trip would be canceled. The other teachers had plans or didn’t want to go. I felt a bit guilty and agreed to go.
Now that I am here, all is good. I had never been to Nunapitchuk before, but have always wanted to. I’m glad I came. So yep, be careful of what you say. You have to live with it. It is like I tell my students, “You said it. It was your choice. So, quit whining and live with it.” It is good advice that I also need to remember.