Although it's Not Pudding, It is Proof

Are you familiar with the cliché, “the proof is in the pudding?”  It can be funny or even a wee bit strange when we think about how sayings come into being.  Sometimes, we don’t know where the saying came from yet somehow we still get the gist of it.  Today, the guidepost for these many thoughts flooding my mind come from the popular quote, “the proof is in the pudding.”  We each can derive a slightly different meaning from that adage.  During this chapter of my life & perhaps yours too, I find that the saying relates closely to the fact that “right” action is what really matters the most.

Do you find that you go through times in your life where you just seem to keep receiving a “message” from a variety of sources?  The message may come from people that we know well or strangers or media or another means yet my steadfast knowledge is that no matter where the messages are coming from, the grander source is always the same for me.  If you are a person of faith you will know exactly what I mean by this.  Lessons & joy both come via faith messages for me at least. 

Isn’t it incredible when we hear the same message over & over again when it pertains to something that is really going to make a difference in our lives & in the turn the lives of those around us?  Do you find too that the message may have been being communicated to us in various ways for longer than we even realized at first?  It seems sometimes that what starts out as a “tap on the shoulder” of sorts can turn into a neon sign when we don’t feel the initial tap.

Action.  Wow, now there is a verb!  It is so easy to say that we will think about something or say no to doing that exact thing that is going to make a huge positive difference to our lives.  The no can be in the form of putting the action point on our perpetual “to do” lists but never quite getting to it day after day.  Or the no could be in the form of a false yes.  What the heck does that mean, Saundie?  A false yes is when we commit to taking action on something & then not follow through.  Do people sometimes give a false yes to themselves or others with good intention & other times not the best of intentions?  We each get to answer that for ourselves.  When we answer that question, we might be lead to our own answer  by asking a few questions quietly within ourselves.  We may ask ourselves if we gave a yes because we were having a high energy day or were in a good mood & felt that we could take on the world that day yet when the day passed, so too did our desire to follow through with the yes.  Or perhaps we intended to carry through with the yes however “life got in our way.”  We may have lost sight of our goal or the reason why the yes would be the next right thing to do.  Perhaps we are looking for the “perfect” time yet when we reflect on this in silence we intellectually realize that would equate to “Waiting for Godot.”  Sometimes some of us say yes to almost everything good or bad because we have not learned to say no & then find an excuse not to honour the yes.  To be fair, there are times that the yes will happen and we are devoutly committed to the yes however something happens in our lives to delay the yes for a time.  Examples of delayed yes are our own illnesses, family illnesses & loss of loved ones.  Being gentle with ourselves during times of a delayed yes feel exactly right in my heart.

During the last few weeks, I have found that I kept receiving the same message & that is “take meaningful right action.”  It has appeared in the reading materials that I have gravitated towards, through friends, acquaintances, family, messages from shows I have watched, and homilies that have profoundly impacted me.  Yes, I see the preverbal neon sign!  The message is to commit to taking right action in a variety of places in my life including helping others more & doing more to impact my health.  I have been reminded that to get “too comfortable” is not what I am here for on earth.  You see, I find helping others to be natural but I can & will do more & I work really hard on my health yet again, I can & will do more.  I have found that I have become satisfied or comfortable with my previous efforts & was feeling okay with the status quo.  The status quo though is not my best.  Now there’s a moment of personal honesty & guess what else?  A feeling of discomfort is the answer to that one.  Awesome, that means that I still have a pulse since I know that status quo is not growth.  Now I have to do something about this.  To know & not to do anything about it for me is to live an incongruent, pain inducing existence.  I know better in other words so I need to do more.

To share with you, this summer has been a challenge health wise for my family & I.  Diabetes or “365” health challenges after all are felt not only by us but also very much affect our family & those closest to us.  It bothered me big time that a number of my health issues decided to go into “meltdown mode” during the summer months while our sons were off for the summer from school.  We had made a huge list of things that we wanted to do together during those 9 weeks & while we did many of them, we certainly did not do all of them.  And I had to employ a “stiff upper lip” most days as I was really unwell about 80% of the summer.  I don’t feel badly for myself but instead choose to find a way to just get better.  It won’t happen on its own.  When we have type 1 diabetes, it is a moving target so we can certainly do all the right things & not be rewarded with “nice” blood sugars.  I accept that.  Like you, I don’t like it one bit yet I accept it.  The other health issues though for me are another story.  I have not exhausted all my options in improving those so I still have work to do.  The work on those started at the end of last June.  Like a garden that is just planted, health improvement for me has also taken time & daily positive action.  I have chosen to do many things over the past 9 weeks that frankly I did not like doing.  That is something that I have no problem getting beyond.  Keeping an eye on the goal keeps me motivated to do the things that I don’t “want” to do.  Here’s the great news…for the past 2 weeks, I have felt amazing.  Please don’t get me wrong…the diabetes is still a menace with its fair share of literal ups & downs.  The other health issues though are so much better.  I am getting my energy back & sleeping really well & yay the double over with pain abdominal pain is gone right now.  Listening to the message, take action & don’t settle for just the status quo has made a huge positive difference.  The difference did not happen overnight & it did not happen without sacrifices & work yet it did happen. 

Remember how I mentioned that there are things on the list of activities that our sons & I have not yet enjoyed?  That list is still taped to the cupboard in our kitchen.  My “yes” is that the list is not coming down until we have participated in all the adventures that we are planning on having together.  In other words, the goal has not changed & neither has the commitment or the yes but rather simply the dates for the activities has been reset.  That’s okay.  That’s not settling.  That is the spirit of rejecting victimhood & choosing walking in the direction of victor.  Sometimes the steps are small & slow yet they are being made day in & day out.

The other rejection of “status quo” that I shared with you earlier is breaking free of believing that I am doing enough to help others.  Balderdash!  Yesterday, I began to take action on that breakthrough of the status quo too.  And you know what?  I felt butterflies in my tummy & uncomfortable.  Good, I am on the right track. 

Am I really serious about breaking free of the status quo?  Well, as always, “the proof is in the pudding!” 

My heart’s hope is that you are at the banquet of your own positive action breakthroughs too.  May the seeds you plant today grow into magnificent gardens of joy for you.

Smiles,  Saundie :)

Speaking of Banquets, next Monday's sharing is, "Missing Part of the Banquet (For Now)."  Have a beyond Status Quo week :)