This post will be much lighter than yesterday’s. Afterall, can you really get intense when Bugs Bunny is the face of the post? Today, I’m writing about what I experienced first-hand over the 2023 holidays when it came to getting off track, and then the time and effort it’s taken just to get back on the trail again.
OFF TRACK… the lure of distraction
Think about a fishing lure for a moment. You ever wondered why a fish would be drawn to a sharp hook that is intended to snare it in the mouth and reel it in to a certain doom? This sounds like an ominous beginning to a post with Bugs Bunny in it… I’ll get off the poor fish in a moment, but just a little further with the illustration.
The lure is designed to attract the fish’s attention… to appeal to it’s nature through careful detail in the shiny and colorful metal, and also to the movement made by the lure when it is in motion. The fish can’t help its nature… it strikes the lure only then to realize it’s made a grave decision. Okay, fish probably don’t think that complex, but I’m not building this up to talk about how fish think anyway. I’m sure you probably know where this is going, because I’m talking about how distractions can appeal to our senses, and with those distractions, we often strike before realizing what we’ve done. Okay… no more about the fish…
When we’re on a trail navigating toward our intended goal, what is it about those irritating distractions that… lure us off course? We know we’re stepping off the trail, we push through tree branches, through thicker brush and over or around large boulders, but for whatever reason, we are unaware of it on the way off the trail… all we see is that thing that’s distracted our focus, and we keep moving… further… and further… and further off the trail. We’re drawn in by the color… the shininess… the movement… we see the things that appeal to our senses, and we strike. Only then do we realize what we’ve done, and regret, irritation… perhaps shame or discouragement begins to fill our heart.
Come to think of it… a brownie with ice cream sounds like a lure to me. It just comes without a physical hook. Pizza is an effective lure as well… and with shame… I confess that Taco Bell Drive-thru is kind of a lure sometimes. Okay, let’s get out of the tackle box and keep moving…
See the hook in that picture? Me neither… but it’s in there somewhere.
DAMN ALBUQUERQUE!
The holidays come around every year! Vacations come around frequently as well. I am very aware of my need to remain within structure, so I’m making solid decisions. That structure is the equivalent of remaining on the trail. I trust the trail… I know it’s going to take me where I desire to go. But every time I get to Albuquerque… like Bugs Bunny, I make a wrong turn and end up lost somewhere having to figure out how to get back on track. At some point in time, I’m going to have to understand there are alternative routes, and I can avoid Albuquerque altogether.
So here I am, three weeks past the holidays, and I’ve found my way back to the trail. Remember all those tree branches, thick brush, and large boulders I spoke of not noticing on the way off the trail? I noticed every single one as I worked to get back on track. All the while, as I fought through or around all of it, I kept asking myself why I never noticed all of this on my way off the trail… was I not paying any attention at all to what I was doing? Of course not… neither does the fish see the hook when it goes for the lure… it just sees the color… the shininess… the movement… until it’s too late.
THAT’S IT That’s all I wanted to share today. I wanted to put an illustration in your mind that may hopefully be effective as you deal with the distractions of life that can lure us off our trails.
I also want to point out that you are not like the fish. The fish cannot help but be drawn in to the lure. You and me… we can help ourselves. We can see the lure for what it is, and we can make the decisions to keep stepping forward on the trail toward our destination.
If you got off track, don’t allow discouragement to keep you from fighting to get back on the trail… it’s a great relief to push through those last branches to see the trail come back into view. You can do it… keep pushing forward.