Crumpled papers scattered my kitchen table while I helped my fourth grader work on his homework. He had come home with two of the worst grades he’d ever received, plus a notice that he had only turned in a partial assignment for two weeks. It’s a good thing I’ve watched a lot of cop shows on TV, because one lesser known job of a mother is investigator. Trying to get answers out of my fourth grader about what his teacher taught him instantly transforms my kitchen into a poorly lit, dingy, interrogation room. Not my favorite part of parenthood.

He was frustrated. I was frustrated. But we worked through it without the torture devices common in an interrogation room. (Okay, so that only happens in movies. Whatever.)

When I was laying him down for bed, I told him how proud I was of him for working so hard even through the frustration. Snuggled under his plush blanket, he dropped the bomb. Some questions are not ones that a parent really wants to answer. He asked, “What was your worst grade?”

I sighed a mom sigh. “You’re going to laugh at my answer. But before I tell you, promise me that you won’t use it as an excuse to not do your best just because I got a terrible grade.”

“Promise.”

“My worst grade was a 65 on my report card. In English.” Yep, he laughed.

The thing is, even though it was my worst grade, it turned out to be my favorite subject. Not only my favorite subject, but it’s now my JOB and my LOVE!

Here I am about to launch my second book, while having edited two other authors’ books this last year. What if I had let those hard days of terrible grades on book reports and sentence diagrams define how I viewed that subject? Who knows what I would be doing right now.

Isn’t it that way so often? The hard things that comes up in our lives, when we work through them, become a passion. That thing we are afraid of, when we face it, becomes our strength.

You see, life is full of hard things. No one is immune. They hit us all. But how we respond to those hard things is what paints the rainbow or fuels the tornado.

I encourage you today, to look at your hard things differently. The overwhelming pile of paperwork that you’ve put off, the deadline that is looming or may have already passed, that bad report that stung the back of your eyes with tears.

Our response is what separates the victors from the tributes, so to speak. Would I have ever been able to bring my English grade up from a 65 if I didn’t put in the work? And you can too! You can turn that tough situation into a triumph. My son’s report card is proof. Your worst grade can become your greatest love.

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