Getting Ahead: ‘Digging out of bad situations’

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I noticed a cartoon of a man digging a line of graves with a hand shovel. It would be a big job to dig a line of graves with a hand shovel but this poor guy was throwing the dirt over his shoulder from the grave he was digging into the grave that he had just finished. He was filling up his previous hole with the dirt from his present hole and doing a whole lot of work for nothing.

Looking at this cartoon made me chuckle at first; then I started to relate to what this grave digger was doing. His dilemma parallels with real life situations that happen to too many of us at one time or the other. We have dug our way out of a bad situation and we are making some headway until we start to throw our dirt right back into the progress we have made. We have endured a bad experience but we have gotten through it. Everything goes smooth for awhile, then something triggers us to remember that experience and we relive it. Sometimes the pain grows worse as the thought of that bad situation becomes foremost in our mind.

Every waking hour is spent in torture as we revisit that bad experience over and over again. Sometimes those thoughts can drive us into a state of depression and we become ineffective in our ability to handle even the smallest problems that life hands us. This mental avalanche had started because we were throwing our dirt back into the progress that we had made. What was once empty is now again all filled up with our dirt.

Do you think that past experiences can remain in the past if we take control of the dirt in our life? Is it possible to handle today’s challenges without reliving the one that are behind us? Could we stay in a positive mindset if we are looking forward and making sure that our dirt is properly disposed of?

These and other life questions will be addressed Sunday morning as “The Gathering Place Family” meets in the Washington High School Gymnasium at 10 a.m. for our Pre-Service Connection where we enjoy coffee, juice and donuts. Our Worship Service and Children’s Church then begins at 10:30. Come at 7 p.m. and be part of our Wednesday night Bible Study and Children’s Ministry on the third floor above Trends at 120 West Court St. in Washington C.H.

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By John G. Pfeifer

Religion Columnist

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