On behalf of the 63d RD,
Title: Runaway Problems: Facing My Peas
“Running away from any problem only increases the distance to the solution.”, Author Unknown.
“Running away from your problems is a race you will never win.”, www.PlannerMarket.com.
“By running away from the world no one can get peace. Anywhere you go the problems will go with you, because the problems are inside you and not outside. Outside is simply a projection of inside.”, Baba Hari Doss, AZ Quotes.
When I was little, and just being introduced to the various kinds of food that one can eat, I found that I did not like everything that was put on my plate. I have always hated watermelon and for some reason my parents never made me eat this kind of melon. Instead they let me eat musk melon instead. I think it is because my mother liked musk melon over watermelon, but she would still eat watermelon when it was served. I did not. Ironically, this was not the case for peas which still makes no sense to me to this day. I like peas now, but when I stood much smaller within a world of legs that were like a field of dense small trees that towered above me, I hated peas!
My father, unlike my mother at the time, had a lot of sympathy for me, or just spoiled me since I was the youngest, and never made me eat my peas. When my mother was not looking he would slide them off my plate, I sat next to him, and onto his where he would eat mine and his together. I think my mother knew this, but my father always helped me out with whatever I didn’t want to eat. I was a picky eater than and didn’t eat all of the portions placed on my plate. I was small with a small stomach. I still don’t eat a lot, but unlike yesteryear when I was skinny like a bean pole, I have fattened up a bit with an aging metabolism.
When I think about running away from problems I think about my peas. I knew that if I left my peas on my plate I would be sitting at the table for quite some time looking at them staring back at me, and would only be convinced by my mother to swallow a few. If I said to my mother that I did not want to eat my peas or did not like them I would get in trouble. I learned at an early age that running away or refusing to face my peas only prolonged the ordeal of having to eat a few of them after sitting at the table a long time after dinner had finished.
We didn’t have a dog to eat my peas for me, until I was much older so that solution was not an option at the time. I did have a dog after I got married that would eat all of the left-overs I gave her except the peas. I never made my dog eat them. I faced my problems of unwanted food by looking at my father with my big sad blue eyes that melted his heart every time and he would jester for me to give them to him along with whatever else I could not finish eating.
When I got older I would negotiate with my mother and convince her to cook the foods that I loved. By the time I reached high school all my brothers and sisters were gone from home and I was the only one left for my mother to cook for so the negotiations got much easier. My problem with peas ceased to be a problem since I never asked for them to be on the menu.
I still don’t eat a lot of peas, but I have learned to like them preferably with carrots. I have learned that it was not the peas fault that I did not like to eat them. The problem with peas laid within my taste preference that has changed a great deal since I was first introduced to this food. The blame was not on my mother for cooking them since she like eating peas. The problem was mine to conquer.
I am grateful that my father helped me out when I was little, and my mother allowed me to eat carrots over peas later in life. If only problems were all so simple to solve. They are not, but what peas taught me is that rather than running from peas all of my life I learned to figure out a way to solve my pea dilemma. It did not happen overnight. It took a long time and some problems take time to overcome, and that’s ok. The point being made here is that I have since moved on and have overcome much bigger problems by learning to face and overcome my little peas.
Isaiah 41:13 For I am the LORD your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, “Do not fear; I will help you.”
My prayer for today: Lord in whom I gain strength to face tomorrow, be that helping hand that helps to lift me up in times of hardship, need, and when facing a problem I don’t want to face. Lord help me to not fear what is before me, and when I look back at what was once a huge problem, make it possible to smile with confidence knowing that with Your help I can overcome giants and make them small as peas, amen.
CH (MAJ) Dawn Siebold
Here is the direct email and phone number for anyone requesting support
From the 63d RD Chaplain office,
usarmy.usarc.63-rsc.list.chaplain-all-users@mail.mil
650-526-9668