Push Comes to SHOVE

When push comes to shove most are confused. Some are lost because they don’t like idioms and others disconcerted because they so seldom recognize a confrontation when it arises. Just for fun when I’m speaking I’ll ask a room full of teens how many of them have ever been in a fist fight. Then I’ll qualify the statement by saying, “Siblings don’t count.” I only had a handful myself and the last one of those was probably in ninth grade. This is not to say I haven’t wanted to sock somebody even recently. But Push Comes to Shove in more ways than one can count on a daily basis.

There’s a distinctly violent and pervasive ebb to the flow of complacency and cowardice in modern society. This is that “thing” that keeps us from feeding a homeless guy with B.O. or checking makes and models for the Amber Alert that just went up. This is also the thing that keeps us beaten and disheveled when the economy makes everybody’s money funny. I can say first hand that I get literally frightened as the bank account balance is whittled down faster than I can replenish. And it’s not just a fear of being “broke” but rather a fear of being forced away from livelihood and into a job. I don’t have to explain the difference do I? This is how Push Comes to Shove for me lately. Circumstances are starting some “stuff” with me. Isn’t this all the more reason for me to be creative, to inspire others, to brave the learning curve of running a business that happens to be a ministry or philanthropy? Life picks a fight and doesn’t wait until 3 o’clock after school. Life punches you in your snot locker in front of everyone watching.

A push is one thing but a shove puts you on the ground and while you’re down there you have but a moment to regroup, get up and shove back. Are you going to settle for complaining when you could take what’s in your hand and create? Will you cry your eyes out because your college degree, your marriage, your girlfriend/boyfriend, your steady job hasn’t provided the security you anticipated? The world is faster now, replete with opportunity and its twin RISK. It’s so fast in fact that somehow we’ve forgotten how to fight and contend. We don’t mind transitions as long as they are clear and identifiable, the one job-to-the-next type. We don’t mind change so much as long as it’s neat and clean. But it’s the nebulous we fear now due in part to a lack of patience and tenacity. I’m here with you bloggin’, talkin’ to myself as usual and believe me when I tell us we better have a little SHOVE in us if we’re to live a real life. Question is, where will you go to get some SHOVE if you’ve been soft your entire life? To be continued…