Week 11 — Scroll 3 — Three new challenges!

December 11, 2014 by masterkey4MaryLou 6 Comments

At least these three new ones aren’t as challenging as the one I faced in Scroll 2.  And, much to my delight, 30 days of reading that one has resulted in my subby accepting my earnest desire to begin my new life without all the years of baggage, and allowing me to begin feeling emotions bit by bit.

So what did Scroll 3 present that made my way-too-sensitive subby go into protective mode again? Please don’t laugh too hard — it was the story of the brave bulls.  Anyone remember the kid’s story about Ferdinand? I don’t remember much, but it must be the source of memory that the bravest bulls were the ones that got killed first by the braver bullfighters. So picturing myself as that brave bull was not the best motivation to persist to good old subby. So we had a little talk — sometimes the bull actually won and the picador died (not good deal for him) or the bull was revered for his persistance until he went out in a blaze of glory. So we chose that alternative — as Mandino says, “As long as there is breath in me, that long will I persist.”  One challenge overcome.

Second challenge: As a long-time Bible believer, being God’s obedient little sheep is the only way to go, and subby fully agrees.  Hmmmm… how to reconcile Mandino’s instructions with God’s??? This took a little more time and study. First, Jesus is the Good Shepherd, who only prods us when He sees we’re going in the wrong direction for our DMP. (Read Acts 9:1-7 for one famous man’s reaction to Jesus’ prodding. Then read John 10:10 to see where Jesus’ leading takes us.)  Now, a bit about how a shepherd (who leads the flock, unlike a cattleman who drives the herd) sometimes works with his sheep. He studies them all for their different character traits, chooses one with the best leadership qualities and hangs a bell around his neck, which is where the word “bellwether” originated (wether being a neutered male sheep). He follows the shepherd faithfully, and the rest of the sheep follow him, and life is easier for all. So subby and I agreed that taking the roll of the bellwether, and refusing to stay in the crowd of fearful, untrusting, complaining sheep would work just fine.

Okay, third challenge: who could imagine that subby could harbor so many odd perceptions that have kept me “protected” all these years? A mighty oak…something that dots the landscape of our beautiful Sacramento Valley in Northern California. In the small town where I grew up, there was a famous oak, named after an explorer who helped found our village, that was reputed to be the largest of its species in the world. Even after it was struck by lightning and eventually died, it was left intact for years for the kids to climb on until it became unsafe. Then it was cut up and local artisans fashioned all kinds of mementos for gifts and souvenirs. Any possibility old subby might have a bit of nostalgia hidden away? So we looked at the reason oak trees were created, not only for beauty and shade and cleaning the air, but also for their wonderful hard wood — and we looked at the beautiful old oak dining table that I’ve enjoyed for years, and agreed that it was fine for our “childish swipes” to work at eventually bringing one down.

Wow, I can’t wait to see what Scroll 4 holds for us!