Sitting on the Right Track

by Lonnie King

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I’m starting to get the real picture here.

SuperWife (aka, the good-looking blonde) is sending me — not the kids — the subliminal messages.

A while back, I waxed eloquent about a quotation from Albert Einstein that she had printed out and posted on one of the bathroom mirrors, ostensibly to motivate our kids to focus their lives on being valuable instead of ‘successful’.

Now I think she’s meddlin’ in my business…

There’s a new motivational quote taped to the mirror now.  Sure, she says it’s there to make our children think, but I know she really meant it for me.

“Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.”

Will Rogers said that many years before I was born.  But I know SuperWife thinks he had me in mind when he spoke the words.

Here’s the reason in a nutshell:  I’m too much of a nice guy.

Yeah, I said it…I’m too nice.  If you don’t believe me, just ask the droves of adoring people who rush to praise my wonderfully positive attitude and spirit.

But seriously, folks…

Before you write me to inquire about exactly WHEN I became a nice guy, I know that I’m not the most hospitable soul you’ll ever meet.

But I also know SuperWife thinks I allow too many people to take advantage of me because I am a little reluctant to be confrontational…at least when it comes to serious issues.

It’s not so much about being nice as it is about being conditioned to run away.

I tend to believe she’s right about that and I think it’s a product of my upbringing.  Growing up in my family, you never dealt head-on with tough issues; you swept them under the rug and never spoke of them again.

Our motto was, “If you ignore it, maybe it’ll go away.”

But then, you harbored the bitterness and resentment the rest of your life.

Well, it turns out that bitterness and resentment are heavy loads to bear.  And when you are carrying them around, you frequently need to sit down under their weight…and “even if you’re on the right track,” you’re still just sitting there.

And, when that means of processing those issues becomes your best practice, it doesn’t take too long before you add other issues that add weight to your load and the stops to sit down under the burden become even more frequent.  Pretty soon, you’re spending days, weeks and months just sitting on the track…even if you’re on the right track.

Now, if the goal is to not only be ON the right track, but to also be MOVING FORWARD on the right track, then you’ve got to figure out a way to generate some locomotion.

The most obvious way to do that is to lighten the load.

(Actually, the best thing to do is never pick up a load in the first place, but that’s hard to do.)

That’s another area where SuperWife has been a great influence to me.  She has helped me to learn to deal with tough issues, the kind that affect relationships and push us to or from certain pathways in life.  She has helped me to realize that, just because I was used to living stuck in the mud, I don’t have to continue living like that.

It requires confronting the reality of a given situation and dealing with it, no matter how messy it may be.  I’m getting a little better at doing that.

But sometimes the ‘old’ me still pops up and takes over and I latch on to some dead weight, cart it around for a while and then take a seat on the right track.  So SuperWife has to post a gentle reminder every now and then.

So now it’s time to toss aside the dead weight and focus on the goal.  And there’s plenty of biblical principle in doing that:

“Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we’d better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!”

Hebrews 12:1-3 (The Message)

Strip down.  Start running.  Never quit.  Stop sitting on the track, even if it’s the right one.