It’s the little things that do you in. I’m all set to climb mountains, write a book, lose 25 lbs and change the world . . . but the car won’t start. Dead battery. Won’t charge with jumper cables. Not a peep, chirp, or moan.
Overheard in the excuse line at the Pearly Gates:”Saint Peter, I would have changed the world but there was this battery.”
Yeah, lame.
So I put my plans on hold, told my emotions to shut up and get in the truck and bought a battery. The rest of the day went to pieces. Nothing I planned got done. Who knows what would have happened if the car had started.
But that’s life.
You usually don’t get to slay dragons and save the village. You do what has to be done and don’t expect an ovation. No glory, no credit, no problem. Take out the garbage. Change a diaper. Mow the lawn. Wash the dishes. All the while dreaming of the great things you could be doing.
And life slips by. Take the kids to soccer. Pass up fries for salad. A few sets at the gym. Do your homework. Check a forehead for fever. Call a sick friend. Work hard for that promotion. Sure coach, I’d love to run the bleachers one more time. Say a prayer. Hold a door. Do the right thing. Nobody’s getting famous.
But sooner or later the dragon finally does show up. And you wish life was boring. You had better things to do than save the village. But something had to be done. So you show up one more time and do what you have to do, just like you did all those days before. And it turns out the dragon wasn’t so big. Or maybe you were bigger than you thought.
Then you go back to the boring life that now seems a whole lot better. And you realize it was all training for the dragon. And that the little things are, in fact, what life is all about. Because life is what happens when the battery goes dead. And how well you handle it.
