Wanna Borrow a Jack?

Sometimes, we spend a little too much time worrying about how someone is going to react, or what they might say, or what might possibly happen.  It is one of the things that I do best!  I worry about everything!  It doesn't matter how small or how big it is, I am worrying about it.  I spend so much of my time worrying, that sometimes I just can't find a way to enjoy myself.
Tonight, I found myself in just that place and (afterward) I remembered this story.  This is one of those stories that you hear again and again.  I love it and it is so like me, that I decided to share it with you.

"A fellow was speeding down a country road late at night and BANG! went a tire. He got out and looked but he had no jack.

"Then he said to himself. 'Well, I'll just walk to the nearest farmhouse and borrow a jack.' He saw a light in the distance and said, 'Well, I'm in luck; the farmer's up. I'll just knock on the door and say I'm in trouble, would you please lend me a jack? And he'll say, why sure, neighbor, help yourself, but bring it back.'

"He walked on a little farther and the light went out so he said to himself, 'Now he's gone to bed, and he'll be annoyed because I'm bothering him so he'll probably want some money for his jack. And I'll say, all right, it isn't very neighborly but I'll give you a quarter.

And he'll say, do you think you can get me out of bed in the middle of the night and then offer me a quarter? Give me a dollar or get yourself a jack somewhere else.'

"By the time he got to the farmhouse the fellow had worked himself into a lather. He turned into the gate and muttered. 'A dollar! All right, I'll give you a dollar. But not a cent more! A poor devil has an accident and all he needs is a jack. You probably won't let me have one no matter what I give you. That's the kind of guy you are.'

"Which brought him to the door and he knocked angrily, loudly. The farmer stuck his head out the window above the door and hollered down, 'Who's there? What do you want?' The fellow stopped pounding on the door and yelled up, 'You and your stupid jack! You know what you can do with it!'"

You know, this is so true!  Most of us go through life bumping into obstacles that we could easily pass by and lashing out in anger about things that haven't even happened yet.  We don't even realize what we are doing until someone makes us think by taking the wind out of our sails.  Today was my "wanna borrow a jack" day. 

My daughter, Miracle, was invited to join the college choir.  One of my older daughters thought that I should do it with her.  So, I checked at the college center about the costs and found out that it was going to be close to $200.00 just for her to attend. 
I worked myself up over the finances and how we couldn't afford it.  I tried to tell myself she could wait another couple of years.  It is just too good of an opportunity for my daughter not to go, but I did not think that it was as important for me to go.  So I told my daughter that I could not do it because I would have a hard time getting off work.  I adjusted the finances so that we could pay for her to belong and brought my checkbook to get her registered tonight.
So, this evening we drove to choir practice in Snowflake.  It is 30 miles away.  Miracle did her try outs and enjoyed herself singing, and I sat on a chair in the corner and listened.  After practice, the choir director came up to me and said, "I heard that you could sing too, are you going to try out".  I told her about work and she said, "Sometimes life happens.  We will deal with it when it does.  Just make sure you call first."  So she tested my voice, smiled at me and put me in the choir as a second soprano. 
Then she dropped the real bombshell.  "Fill out this paperwork for your scholarship".   I looked at her, "my scholarship?"  "Yes", she said, "You can have a tuition scholarship for both of you, just make sure you are here as much as possible and help when we need you". 


All right, now you can all say it.

Wanna borrow a jack?