Scorpions

I recently read a blog post from Jon Acuff (all the greatest ideas are sparked by his blog.  If you don’t read it, you need to) about being “glass half full” vs. “glass half empty.”  In the post, he commented that he’s a “glass half full of scorpions” person.

Funny, but I can totally relate.

More than connecting with the post itself, though, was a comment that really hit me where I needed it.  In his response, David from Denver commented: “I’m only just finding the people around me that have helped me take the scorpions out of the glass.”

That got me to really thinking.

I’m a “scorpion in the glass” kind of person, too.  And I’m not talking about the German metal band, although they hold a certain nostalgic spot in my glass, too.  When people ask me how I am, it’s “really busy” or “crazy” or “gosh you don’t want to know the answer to that with all the things I have coming at me.”

Yes, I actually say those things.

Especially at work, where we all whine and complain a lot about the jackals and wolves and scorpions.  And there’s a small amount of truth to that.  We’re nearing the end of a big-business megamerger, and politics happen. There are some real live scorpions.

But they don’t have to live in my glass.

I let them live there.

Then I bring people over to see the glass and to say “Dang, look at all those scorpions in her glass! I’m sure glad that’s not me.  She must be really tough to be able to fight those bad-boys all day long!”

I guess I must get something out of that.  Kinda sick, huh?  But you know what?  That’s not what community is about.  That’s not what friendship is about.  It’s not healthy.

We’re supposed to help our friends pick the scorpions out of their glasses.

We might not be able to kill them.  But we can definitely get them out.

“I get by with a little help from my friends…..”

What can you do to help a friend this weekend?  Leave a comment…

*Photo Credit:  Blitzen the Demoralizer (really. not making that up!)
(Creative Commons)