Eye of the Tiger

I was driving down the road one day, and as I glanced out the window, I saw an old home-place off in the distance. I could tell in its prime, it had been a beautiful masterpiece, but in its current condition, those glory days were gone. The house was overgrown with shrubberies, vines and unkept flower beds. The shutters were falling off the windows and the blinds were closed tight as if no one was home. The old shop out back didn’t look any better. It was rundown and looked like it would cave in at any moment. Yet, as I drove by, I noticed cars were parked in the driveway. I remember saying to myself, “How does a once beautiful place get like that?” I heard these words, “They quit.”

The Bible says, without a vision, the people will perish, Proverbs 29:18. This doesn’t necessarily mean an instant death but a slow decay; A degeneration in a person’s life. As a new year commences, we are faced with a choice. We can quit and begin a slow decline, or we can continue to make improvements. The second law of thermodynamics states, “There is a natural tendency of any isolated system to degenerate into a more disordered state.” In other words, anything left to itself will eventually quit.

I remember meeting a lady one time that told me about all the conditions she had and how she was learning to live with her ailments. I did not voice my feelings but I thought to myself, “What you learn to live with today, you will have to feed tomorrow.” It is no surprise that I never saw this lady again. She quit before she ever got started. I heard Kelly Copeland say, “We cannot change what we tolerate.” If we tolerate a life of misery, then we will never have a life of pleasure.

One of my exercise classes has nicknamed themselves “The Huggin Pool.” They are the neatest group of men and ladies, always welcoming everyone with a smile and a hug. Their motto is “Leave your differences at the door and find something to laugh about.” Life is so much better hung on a peg of laughter. In Alabama, football falls right below church attendance on Sunday morning. What with two SEC teams that play in the state, you are bound to run into football controversy. Here, the colors you wear and the college you graduated from, says a lot about the team you root for. However, two ladies come weekly to the “The Huggin Pool,” each carrying their water canteens that sport their favorite team. These two ladies sit their archrival canteens side by side and head off to exercise. During their workout, I began noticing they would take a water break at the same time. Wading over and grabbing their canteens, they would hold them up and say “cheers” to one another, while their team’s chant echoed off their lips; Laughter covering their differences. Choosing friendship over rivalry and deciding not to quit.

A slow decline can show itself in many forms, but there is an eighty-one-year-old gal that defies all odds. She comes each week to an exercise class of mine that is out of the water! One day while we were setting up our mats to do crunches, I watched her get up from her chair and ease her way down onto a mat. I asked her what she was doing since this was very out of character for her? She replied, “I made up my mind earlier this year. I was going to do my crunches on that mat before Christmas, and I am going to do it!” She has done just that since then. She says all the time, “You are only as old as you want to be!” She refuses to slowly decline.

If time allowed, I would share countless triumphs I have seen with these ladies. I could tell of a seventy-five-year-old lady who, with tears in her eyes, held a three-minute plank and afterward, she shared with us how, with the Lord’s help, she had beaten cancer. She had a new outlook on life and was determined never to quit. I could tell you of a dear friend who had not taken a flight of stairs in many years. I was privileged to stand there and watch as she grabbed hold of the railing, like it was an old friend, and began to climb step for step. The prayers I have personally seen these women pray when emergencies would arise in each other’s lives are amazing! When limitations try to get the better of them, I watch as friends come alongside one another and let them know they can do it. I stand back and watch a young generation take a stride with the older generation; learning from them instead of pushing them away. Miracles happen each day to ordinary people but do we stop long enough to notice? Pastor Randy Fuller said, “A person without a vision is a person without a future.” Vision has sacrifice attached to it and I see it everyday in these ladies. Their everyday decisions reflect their vision. They show up each week with the “Eye of the Tiger” tenacity that pushes me to have an unwillingness to quit. They show up when they feel like it and when they don’t.

A tiger has incredibly keen eyesight. He sets his mark to aim small and miss small. He will dominate rather than be dominated. A tiger will hit his target every time if… he doesn’t quit.

Teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom Psalms 90:12

Welcome Home

If you are enjoying these posts subscribe below and tell a friend!

---