What Looks Good From A Distance
How many times have you watched something on television and told yourself, “Why, I can do that!” To be honest, I have spent a good deal of time watching other people doing things that looked easy and exciting and wishing I had the chance to give it a try. Let me tell you, I have tried all sorts of activities such as catching a swarm of honey bees and robbing their honey at the right time, professional wrestling school so I could wrestle Ivan Koloff (the Russian Bear), white water kayaking ( I almost drowned in a swimming pool when I was upside down practicing escaping from the kayak), catching snakes to make them pets, raising farm animals to make them pets, water skiing while holding the bar with my teeth (don’t try this one!), playing the harmonica, banjo, bag pipes, trumpet, and any other instrument that I thought sounded good. These are just a few things that I thought looked easy from a distance, but when I got up close and personal they were anything but easy.
I would like to share with you my top three things I thought looked easy from a distance, but I have never been able to master or enjoy them like I thought I would. The number three activity is driving a convertible car. I owned a ’68 corvette in college and it was a “hard top/rag top.” When I saw someone else driving a convertible I would tell myself, “Now that person has got it made!” I have found the opposite to be true. First, the sun is directly on you or the rain is directly on you, depending upon the weather. This is not a fun way to travel the highway of life. Not only that, but I couldn’t hear the person talk that was riding with me. I asked my wife to marry me while I was driving my ol’vette and she had to ask me a couple of times what I was saying. It’s a good thing my wife didn’t misunderstand me and thought I was saying, “Are you hairier than me?” instead of “Will you marry me?”
The second thing is riding a motorcycle. It looks great when you pass a motorcycle on the road and the riders look like they are having the time of their lives. I have ridden motorcycles most of my adult life and I have been hit by a car, a bird, and a bee that flew into my shirt and could sting and bite me at the same time. I have seen my best friend lay his motorcycle down on the road while going at a good rate of speed. It did not kill him, but he still has the scars and memories of a good afternoon gone bad. Still, every once in a while I get the “itch” to buy another bike and take to the roads, telling myself I will be alright if I just watch the traffic around me. Lucky for me, the “itch” goes away and I go back to my normal way of thinking.
The number one thing that looks easy at a distance but is seemingly impossible and heartbreaking is parenthood. I’m not sure if parenthood is a life blessing or a life sentence. When my children were small, they were so well behaved and would follow our directions to the letter. Strangers would come up to us and tell us how blessed we were to have such well mannered children and how they were so respectful to adults. I would swell with pride and tell myself how this would continue until my dying day, when all my well behaved children had grown into responsible adults with their own perfect families. I was well on my way to my deathbed scene in the distant future when my children reached the teenage years. It’s not that they have been terrible, but when kids grow up they have minds of their own, which means they do and say things that I would not do.
Even in these difficult times, I am reminded of the promise in God’s Word about families. Psalm 127:3-5 says, “Children are a gift from the Lord; babies are a reward. Children who are born to a young man are like arrows in the hand of a warrior. Happy is the man who has his bag full of arrows.” I keep telling myself that even though parenthood is not as easy as it looks, it is a blessing from God! Remember, don’t give in to sin. Think about it!
