It was supposed to be a funny fable. But I teared in the end.
In bestselling book “The Slight Edge” which I finished over the last three days, author Jeff Olsen writes of a story of two frogs that plopped themselves into a pail of milk and couldn’t get out.
Frantic, they thrashed about, trying to save their lives. They paddled madly, but it was no use. The first frog said, “We’re doomed!”
The other said, “When we were tadpoles, who would have thought we could go on land! Pray for a miracle!”
With his desire backed by faith, the 2nd frog paddled wildly when suddenly he felt something solid. He sighed, said farewell to his brother frog, when he unknowingly scrambled up onto the big lump of butter he had just churned, and hopped out of the pail. Who could have known!
I teared because too many of us give up too soon.
What if I’d quit in medical school because I couldn’t keep up? What if Cliff and I ended out marriage when so many tsunamis hit us in our 7th year, 3 years ago? What if…
The truth is- if only we knew how close we were to hope. In the frantic paddling, the drowning pain, things always seem hopeless- “how long more of this madness! I can’t take it anymore!”
But by doing the same thing every day- by showing up, by putting one foot in front of the other, by saying, “I can face one more day,”- will you trust that God is working on your behalf?
Even when you don’t see it, He’s working. Even when you don’t see Him, He’s there.
Like the paddling frog, sometimes all we need is to just keep doing what we He’s made us to do. We don’t have to have all the answers, and that’s okay.
I’m glad I graduated from Medicine, even though I took 11 years to find out its role in my life- in the middle of a hot field in a rural village in Eswatini. I’m grateful Cliff and I pulled through, through those unthinkable trials, making it to our tenth anniversary this year.
Beloved, don’t give up. Churn that milk. Paddle strong. You just never know if it might turn to butter. Praying for hope with you.
