Now what am I going to do with this?

I read recently a devotional that advised, when faced with a difficult situation, one should NOT ask "why", but rather, "what". More specifically it said, now that this is my reality, what am I going to do with it?

The verse quoted was Philippians 4:8, “Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” (NIV)

The author called this verse “directions on where to park my mind.”

What does this have to do with the Harris part of the Taylor clan?
Within the last month we've had some "stuff" happen that most would consider bad. Hannah had her first fender bender in her car and I cut my foot on some broken glass that I caused to be broken. Both incidents were the result of less than brilliant behavior.

But were they "bad"? In Hannah's case we were very lucky. No one was hurt and the damage to the other car was less than $1000 and therefore will not affect her insurance rates. Furthermore, her car (covered by liability only since it is not really worth that much) was "fixed" by a friend for only $565. Which is only $65 more than what my deductible would have been had it been covered by insurance. The good part to all of this is that it has provided an opportunity, for a relatively small price, for Hannah to fully understand the consequence of not paying full attention to her driving. The price tag is a bargain.

As for my foot, I've got 4 stitches, that should have been 8 -- due to the fact that the doc-in-the-box urgent care "physician" is apparently paid by the job and not by the hour. My doctor is being very cautious and has asked me to stay off of it as much as possible so it will heal. With reduced circulation in my feet, we do not want to take any chances.

What have I learned from this? For the most part, patience. Don't climb on a stool and stand tip-toed to rearrange stuff on a top shelf without your shoes on (see, I told you it was stupid). Stop, wait, put your shoes on, get a proper stool, or ask someone tall to help you (we have two such persons living with us -- for those of you who don't see him often, you won't believe how much Blaine has grown. He's now taller than Hannah). I need to learn that acrobatics are not my forte. Not in the shower, not on a stool, not even walking across a restaurant floor. I am definitely not ready for either Cirque de sole or the Ed Sullivan Show, although the spinning plates might have fit in nicely (watch out Topo Gigio)

So, what am I going to do with this experience? First of all I'm thankful I didn't break any of my wife's brand new fiestaware dishes. If I had, you all would probably have been attending my funeral and I certainly would not have been home today from work blogging. But more to the point, hopefully I will use it as motivation to continue to become more healthy -- eat right, exercise, and be more active... But probably not above ground level.