"We've All Been Shot"

There are phrases and ideas that you hear and they make an impression and stick in your mind. Then there are other things that glide off your brain cells and are forever lost. I never know what is going to stick and what isn't.

I was reading a new novel by one of my favorite authors, Jaclyn Weldon White, and in it she used the phrase "old stories and sweet dreams." I loved what images those words conjured up in my mind. It took me back to my childhood when my mother would tell me old stories about her childhood, and I would fall asleep leaning against her and have the sweetest dreams. "Old stories and sweet dreams," what a beautiful phrase.

Another phrase I heard this week was "We've all been shot." Now that sounds like an alarming thing to hear so let me quickly explain the circumstances. It happened in church. My preacher, Jenny Jackson-Adams, had started her sermon and I was listening but I was also letting my mind wander a bit. Still it came back to full attention mode when she mentioned she had watched the movie "Black Hawk Down."

I too had seen that movie and hadn't been that impressed. It was good but not great. Plus all the soldiers in the film looked alike and I had difficulty telling one actor from the other. It had not made an impression.

But it had on Jenny for she described a scene in the movie, which really had an impact on her. In this scene a colonel, played by Tom Sizemore, was trying to get a convoy of trucks out of the battle zone. The trucks had been under siege by the enemy and there had been terrible wounds and deaths that had occurred. The colonel went to the lead truck where the driver had been killed and pulled the body out. Then he turned to a Sergeant and told him to drive the truck out of there.

The sergeant responded that he had been shot to which the colonel replied, "We've all been shot! Now drive the truck."

The preacher said that is what life is all about. She said every one of us has been "shot" in some way but we need to get on with it and drive the truck. And that is so true. I know I have used whiny excuses in the past as a reason not to do something or to excuse why I didn't succeed in some area. What I needed was for somebody to say "Baloney! We've all been shot. Now drive the truck."

Sometimes out of the blue a life lesson will come your way. It may be in a comment by a friend or a sermon by your preacher. Just pray when it arrives that you are ready to receive it.

Remember that all of life is not "old stories and sweet dreams." Some of the journey through life is tough. But also remember that all of us have been shot in some way, at some time. We need to get over these unfortunate instances and go on and drive the truck!

 

 

 

 

 

©2004 Jackie K. Cooper

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