“I’ve gotta’ stop doing this!”  Ever heard yourself saying these words?

Last night before going to bed, I went to the living room to turn off the light. After backing away from the table lamp, I headed toward the bedroom and whamo!  I smashed that same foot again!

That poor foot has been through the war!  First there was a neuroma (a grape-sized cyst at the end of a nerve) between the third and fourth toes, and that required surgery.  Just about the time that it healed nicely, I stubbed my big toe on a rock and broke the nail more than halfway down.  Of course the whole thing turned black, and it seems like forever that I’ve been waiting for it to grow out.  Then two weeks ago, I was about to feed our mini-schnauzer, and dropped a watermelon-sized, heavy jar on that foot.  I was sure that I’d broken it, and if I did, I don’t know for sure.  Of course, the foot became the color of the toenail – WOW! I match!  And then, just getting beyond Technicolor, last night’s wham occurred.

It’s just not fair! Why the same poor foot over and over again?  Sound familiar?  It might not be a smashed toe or broken nail, but all too often, it’s a smashed relationship or a broken heart.  It seems like we keep going over the same territory or around the same mountain, time and time again.

Is there a message I’m supposed to get here?  What in the world is it?  Or is it that I am so concerned about something that I live in fear about it. Afraid of breaking a toe or smashing a foot – or afraid of yet another broken relationship.  Living in fear can get us into trouble over and over again. Why?  Because fear paralyzes and fear predicts its own end.  What we fear, happens.

Just something to ponder – and ask yourself how it works in your life.