I think it is high-time for another entry on “Everything I Need To Know I Learned from Special Ed Pre-School”. I hate to admit it, but most of these precious 3,4, and 5 year olds have mastered these skills better than I ever will (see previous blogs). So, if I may, let me recount to you a “walk the line” dilemma that arose at school one day. Picture a long hallway with a long blue line down one side and a long green line down the other. Teachers used these lines to guide their class to places like the gym, the library or the bathrooms in a semi-organized fashion. As a general rule, we tried to corral the kids onto the “right” side of the hallway, for better traffic flow (“John-pleeeeeease stay on the green road!”, “Sarah, keep your shoes on the blue road and your hands on your OWN body.”). One day, the unthinkable happened. There were two classes on the SAME colored line, heading in OPPOSITE directions. We froze. What in the world would we do now? We ALWAYS walk TO the gym on the BLUE road. Surely we will never be able to get there if we get OFF the Blue road. And, after all, it is an unwritten RULE and we must follow it lest people start running amuck! We all just stood their, trying to figure out how to solve this problem. About then, the Principal, who had apparently been observing us, walked up to us and solved it herself with 2 simple, brilliant words; “Go around.” Huh? “People, just get OFF the Blue line and go around. It’ll be OOOOOKAAAAAY.” And so, we did. And she was right. It was OK.
You have probably heard the phrase, “If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.” I know this to be true in theory, but I finally had to say “uncle” (that means, “I give up” in kid language) when I became very discouraged and distressed about gettin’ what I’ve always gotten. I’d been praying my brains out, going to church and bible studies and to a Counselor. I did all this for YEARS without very much progress. It wasn’t until I got involved in a Recovery Program that I finally was able to make some of the changes that I had been working toward most of my adult life. Now, before anyone freaks out, I am NOT saying that the other things I did DON’T work. And I am NOT saying that what I did do will work for YOU. Only YOU and God (mostly God) know what it is you need to get “well.” BUT, I am saying that sometimes, we need to do something DIFFERENT.
Some of you reading this know me personally…pre-leukemia. You can testify that I have sort of a stubborn streak about me (no comments, please). If something I am doing isn’t working, than by-golly, I will work even harder and FORCE it to work because I don’t give up easily (and I really like it when things go my way). Sadly, it took a great humbling for me to admit that I would implode if I didn’t do something different. Something that might be unfamiliar and uncomfortable. I had to open myself up to some new ideas and perspectives and develop a fresh relationship with God. Those are just some of the ways my spirit and soul grew and morphed when I was willing to do something I had never done, to get what I had never gotten. I hope you take the risk and get off that BLUE ROAD. Trust me-it’ll be OOOOOKAAAAAAY.
