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A New Series Begins! By Dr. Ron Ross My mother nearly killed me during the summer before I entered the first grade. I really hadn’t done anything terribly wrong except to play in the back yard. Well maybe I did a little wrong – I played in the part of the back yard that Dad had just tilled so Mom could plant a garden. The problem was not that the area was tilled; it was that it had rained all morning and the tilled section was a large area of some really gooey mud that looked to this little boy like a great place to play. And play I did. I stomped my way out to the middle of tilled area where the mud was the deepest and the gooiest, there I jumped up and down with uninhibited joy. Only problem was that by jumping up and down in the goo I soon buried my feet up to my ankles and got myself totally stuck in the mud. My only solution was to scream at the top of my voice for “MOTHER”. After three blood-curdling cries she heard me and came running out the back door. She thought I had broken a bone or that the neighbor’s dog had gotten loose and bit me. Instead she saw me standing in the mud up to my ankles unable to move either foot. Her demeanor changed dramatically. She was no longer worried, she was mad. Mom let out a war-hoop, kicked off her shoes and began a muddy and very angry walk toward me, threatening my life with each step. When she finally reached me she didn’t do anything to help free my feet and shoes from the mud, instead she took the opportunity to swat my butt while she lectured me about playing in the mud! After what seemed a lifetime of lecture and pain, her adrenaline level dropped and she pulled me out of the mud one foot at a time while I bawled and begged forgiveness. She carried me inside, dumped me in the bathtub and cleaned me up all while scolding me for ruining my shoes and socks. Even as an adult I have been stuck in the mud a couple of times, haven’t you? The difference is that when you are little you can scream for your mother to come and pull you out. When you are grown up you must wiggle your own way out of the mud. For the next several months I will present to you weekly essays on the theme, “How to Wiggle Out of the Mud.” These essays will be inspirational, motivational, spiritual, and sometimes humorous. Here are just a few of the topics I have outlined to date: Put Your Best Face Forward, Ignore Insults, Eliminate the Twin Killers of Success, Avoid Trifling Conversation, Learn the Law of the Farmer, and many more. If you are or ever have been stuck in the mud and sunk down to ankle-deep mire in your nice shoes and socks, you will enjoy each essay starting with next week’s topic: “Live With Purpose.” See you next week! Keep up with each “Wiggle Out of the Mud” series by visiting www.RonRossToday.com. ©Copyright 2016 Dr. Ronald D. Ross Feedback: Ron Ross@RonRossToday.com
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