Being Tough

Maggie laughs at me and I at her, and then we tease each other about our weak areas.

Her weakness is definitely NOT in being tough with teenage boys. Mine is. She loves the power she feels when she stares into the face of a teenage boy and tells him 'what for.' I struggle to look tough, while I quake inside.

However, God has called us to do things whether we feel tough or not. My girfriend, Angel, whose kids adore her, was a single mom for 4 years. But she ran a construction company and she made a fortune doing it. She says, "Successful people do things whether they feel like it or not."

So whether I felt like it or not, I took a frying pan to the seat of somebody's pants the other day for being sulky when we were downtown supposedly bringing joy and love to the homeless guys in the park. What made it extra hard was, he ran away when I did it.

But the big, strong, stern policeman standing by my garage door said, "Ma'am, make him mind you! He's got to mind you." I could tell from the look in his eyes, he meant, "MAKE HIM MIND YOU. " And as he climbed back into his police car he added, "He'll be back. Don't you worry."

Thank you Lord for your help in time of need.

That blessed policeman also drove around looking without filing a report! But the one God chose to actually find our boy was the sweet rabbi who loves him bigtime. He was only a quarter mile from home sitting on a curb, thinking. The two of them talked about the old days, the hurts, and his future. The rabbi may have told him about his bad old days, the bull riding, the hurts and all, and about God's steady, firm hand on his life.

Now that everyone is back to their old, sweet selves, I still have to be tough, because the two weeks' grounding punishment means early bedtimes, no more sports, and missing the big athletic banquet tonight.

Successful people do what they have to do, even when they don't feel like it and their husband is out of town. Especially when their husband is out of town.