Potholes and Starfish

An Autobiography in 5 Short Chapters

Chapter 1: I walk down the street. There is a deep hole in the pavement. I fall in. I am lost. I am helpless. It isn't my fault. It takes forever to get out.

Chapter 2: I walk down the street. There is a deep hole in the pavement. I pretend I don't see it. I fall in again. I can't believe I'm in the same place. But it isn't my fault. It still takes a long time to get out.

Chapter 3: I walk down the street. There is a deep hole in the pavement. I see it is there. I still fall in. It's a habit. But now my eyes are open. I know where I am. It is my fault. I get out immediately.

Chapter 4: I walk down the street. There is a deep hole in the pavement. I walk around it.

Chapter 5: I walk down a different street.

We have been blessed with 24 hours in each day. With those hours we can do anything we want (well, within reason!). The best part is that tomorrow there is always a new day. If we made a wrong choice, we have a brand new day to make better choices.

Always love yourself where you are. Heavenly Father does!

This reminds me of my favorite poem, "The Starfish"

Once upon a time there was a wise man

who used to go to the ocean to do his writing.

He had a habit of walking on the beach before he began his work.

One day he was walking along the shore.

As he looked down the beach, he saw a human figure moving like a dancer.

He smiled to himself to think of someone who would dance to the day.

So he began to walk faster to catch up.

As he got closer, he saw that it was a young man

and the young man wasn't dancing,

but instead he was reaching down to the shore,

picking up something and very gently throwing it into the ocean.

As he got closer he called out, "Good morning! What are you doing?"

The young man paused, looked up and replied, "Throwing starfish in the ocean."

"I guess I should have asked, why are you throwing starfish in the ocean?"

"The sun is up and the tide is going out.

And if I don't throw them in they'll die."

"But, young man, don't you realize that there are miles and miles of beach

and starfish all along it. You can't possibly make a difference!"

The young man listened politely. Then bent down, picked up another starfish

and threw it into the sea, past the breaking waves and said-

"It made a difference for that one."