Pain, Suffering, and Sacrifice (and my usual bum luck!) – SCN Encourager

One of these days I’m going to learn to write in the dark

It may be the only way I can escape the clutches of Murphy’s Law.

Because it snagged me again.

And the result is always a bit unnerving.

It all stemmed from today’s headline – Pain, Suffering, and Sacrifice.

I had no sooner typed it out, when Cindy walked by and spotted it.

“Oh no, not again.” she said without stopping. “I hate it when you write about our lives.”

“Funny,” I replied.

And then I moved with my laptop to a different chair in the room, where a wall would make it impossible for any more busy-body snoops to just happen by and start offering their unsolicited commentary about what I was writing.

Interruptions like this totally wreck my train of thought.

They’re idea killers.

Unless, of course, I’m in the midst of one of those other times (actually more frequent) when I don’t really have a train of thought at all, and then I’m grateful for whatever inspiration a busy-body snooping interrupter might provide.

It’s weird, but this circumstance pretty well sums up my personal battle with a rare version of Murphy’s Law.

Whenever I have a solid notion about what I want to write about, I get interrupted and get knocked off track. 

And whenever I don’t have a clue about what to write about, and any kind of interruption would be welcome, one never comes. 

What a curse to live with!

(And thanks for being a good sport and bearing it with me.)

So now that I’ve scanned the family room and calculated that Cindy won’t return any time soon, I’ll tell you why I included the words Pain, Suffering, and Sacrifice in the headline.

I was surprised recently to discover that the word “passion” comes from the Latin root (pati-) meaning suffering or sacrifice.

Dang.

You can now guess where all of this is leading, I’ll bet.

It means that if you are truly passionate about something (your family, a good cause, helping kids learn, or ranking Super Bowl ads) you will endure a measure of pain and suffering to pursue and develop it.

Having a passion for something doesn’t necessarily make it easier – it just means you’re “all in.”

And it also means that THE WALK that comes along with YOUR TALK about your passion may take longer and be more difficult than what you first imagined.

It’ll be interesting to hear Superintendent Kelly Middleton talk about his passion for improving customer service in our schools.

I hope you’ll be able to join us for Wednesday’s Free Lunchinar from 12:15 to 1 pm (EST).

It’ll be a fun and worthwhile 45 minutes.

But if you join us, just remember.

Any questions that pop up on your computer screen asking for marriage advice, didn’t come from me!

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