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Which way to the back door? Lynyrd Skynyrd is playing in my head: Give Me Three Steps and you’ll never see me no more.
While starting and not finishing several blog ideas for this week, I took a break to pray for a sweet family. One sister is donating her bone marrow to the other. Even with complete success, which I’m believing God for, the recipient has a long road to recovery.
The family has faced this speed bump in the road with such grace and remarkable faith. Their attitudes and hope for the future is inspiring.
Thinking about their reaction to adversity made me reflect on my own. I don’t always see the light at the end of the tunnel immediately but I have been blessed with optimism and a firm belief that “this too shall pass.”
I tend to find humor even in the dark places but I often keep it to myself as the rest of the world might deem it inappropriate. It’s great to have my writing as a release. Is it strange that when my uncle passed earlier this year that our family sat around and laughed our tails off at the stories his sons and others told on him?
When I write my heroes and heroines into dark corners, I usually have to take a break while I figure out how to get them out. I look around for the exit sign and it’s usually the back door. Skynyrd gives me three steps so I can get the heck out of dodge and by the time they reach safety, the story has taken a light-hearted turn.
Here’s an example from one of my works in progress. The set-up is that Lily is running from some bad guys through a bad neighborhood. Major is the name of her boyfriend’s German Shepherd.
Lily got herself over the back fence using her good arm and was almost to the front gate when she heard growling and barking. She picked up the pace and launched herself over the fence onto a broken concrete sidewalk as she heard teeth snapping. Doberman. They make good guard dogs. Major would eat his lunch if he were here.
“Nice doggie,” she said as she knocked the dirt off of her skinned knees and started moving again.
For some reason, having that tiny bit of humor, takes the edge off. If I were Lily, in real life, I’d be puppy chow and I’d be screaming like a banshee.
The moral of the story is to remind us to look for the silver linings. That reminds me, I need to go out and see the movie that is generating so much buzz: Silver Linings Playbook.
Take a moment and tell me about your exit strategy when you find yourself in a tight spot. Does it stay dark in your world for a while? Or are you quick to see the light?