Chappy’s On Eagle’s Wings
We Can Win or We Can Wallow
by Ron Ringo
It was about this time last year when a colleague of mine prodded me, and also my pride, to go on another run with him. For a few weeks he had been taking me on a 6.4 mi/10K run. With the temperature hovering in the 90’s and the humidity about the same, it had been draining me. On the return half of the run, I asked him why I was doing this. He said, “because misery loves company, Ron.” He was teasing of course, but it got me thinking, how often do we feel that way in our life? Do we try to drag others into our misery to help us feel a little better, that we are not going it alone? Or, do we rise to the occasion and lengthen our stride to create a better life?
Well, let me share with you what Thoreau said about it, “If misery loves company, misery has company enough”. So what ought we to do when we find ourselves struggling in life’s difficulties? We have learned that no one is exempt from the day-to-day challenges of life. Not a nation, a community, nor an individual. When we are put to these tests of life we can refuse to give in and wallow in misery.
Each of us has experienced that when we are valiant, and keep trudging through our challenges no matter how hard it gets, that is when we win the final victory and gain the greatest growth. How do we do this? By finding what motivates us to be different, to be independent; to know what gives us that feeling of purpose. It may be your children who are looking to you for example and support. It could be that you have faced challenges before and you know the great feeling of accomplishment you felt when you got to the other side of it. Maybe it was the great love and strengthening you felt from God and how that has increased your faith. Whatever it is for you, you have the ability to overcome and conquer the challenges before you.
I read once that in the days when sailors depended upon wind to carry them to their destinations, it was not uncommon to hear that a ship was “sailing on ash breeze”. It referred to the fact that when the winds died out, sailors would then take up rowing. Oars were often made of ash wood; therefore the term… which meant progressing by their own toil and labor. Being motivated by another is often helpful, but the real desire to progress comes when we can imagine the outcome and know that it’s something worthwhile. For the sailors it was the anticipation of their destination that motivated them to row through the challenges of having no winds. It was what waited for them at their destination that gave them the courage, strength and determination to continue rowing.
Ok, now get your tissues ready…Here is a story that was shared with me about a young girl who felt the challenges of life during the turn of the century, (1900), and how her final destination was realized, but not the way I’m sure she thought it would be.
“A sobbing little girl stood near a small church from which she had been turned away because it “was too crowded”. “I can’t go to Sunday School,” she sobbed to the pastor as he walked by. Seeing her shabby, unkempt appearance, the pastor guessed the reason and, taking her by the hand, took her inside and found a place for her in the Sunday school class.
The child was so touched that she went to bed that night thinking of the children who have no place to worship. Some two years later, this child lay dead in one of the poor tenement buildings and the parents called for the kindhearted pastor, who had befriended their daughter, to handle the final arrangements.
As her poor little body was being moved, a worn and crumpled purse was found which seemed to have been rummaged from some trash dump.
Inside was found 57 cents and a note scribbled in childish handwriting which read, “This is to help build the little church bigger so more children can go to Sunday school.”
For two years she had saved for this offering of love. When the pastor tearfully read that note, he knew instantly what he would do.
Carrying this note and the cracked, red pocketbook to the pulpit, he told the story of her unselfish love and devotion. He challenged his deacons to get busy and raise enough money for the larger building.
But the story does not end there!
A newspaper learned of the story and published it. It was read by a realtor who offered them a parcel of land worth thousands. When told that the church could not pay so much, he offered it for 57 cents. Church members made large donations. Checks came in from far and wide. Within five years the little girl’s gift had increased to $250,000.00—a huge some for that time. Her unselfish love had paid large dividends. When you are in the city of Philadelphia, look up Temple Baptist Church, with a seating capacity of 3,300 and Temple University, where hundreds of students are trained. Have a look too, at the Good Samaritan Hospital and at a Sunday school building which houses hundreds of Sunday scholars, so that no child in the area will ever need to be left outside during Sunday school time. In one of the rooms of this building may be seen the picture of the sweet face of the little girl whose 57 cents, so sacrificially saved, made such remarkable history.”
As with this little girl, we can’t always control what life will hand us. And as with those sailors, even when we are certain of where we want to go, there are powerful currents out there that can keep us from smoothly reaching our destination. However, we can’t hinge all of our happiness on the hopes of an absence of trials or challenges, but we overcome them by how we look at them and face them. It may be that we need to step back a moment and look at it from a different angle. Albert Einstein said it this way, “The significant problems we face today cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them”.
As always, it is my hope that this message will help you this week to, “mount up as on eagle’s wings”, and renew a little of your strength to keep moving forward and find joy… (Isaiah 40:31)
Until next time, may God bless you and may God continue to bless our great nation… SEMPER FI
Chaplain Ringo, is the Command Chaplain at MCRD H&S BN, holds a Doctorate of Philosophy in Counseling, and is a Certified Trauma Specialist.
Chaplain Ringo is a good friend and supporter of HealthWalk’s. We are grateful that he is working with us on our integrated total health approach to enhancing and restoring our veterans’ resilience for re-engagement and for their transition from the high operational tempo back to their families and civilian life.