Growing up on a small farm, I can remember hearing the expression “straddling the fence.” I also knew that one side of the fence could be a safe place and the other side could be a danger zone.
For instance, my daddy had two cows among his herd that would chase my brother and me when we climbed over the fence. It was almost as if those two cows just watched and waited on us and would then inform the other cows to watch while they made us kids run.
As soon as we saw those cows coming full-speed toward us, we’d turn and run for our lives, hoping to cross the fence before those horns were stuck into our little bodies. [Hey, it may seem a little over-dramatic here, but I was a child with a big imagination. And, besides, this is my story, so I can tell it the way I want, right?] We would always manage to get back to safety, but there were times it was a little too close for comfort.
Later in my teen years is when I realized that expression had taken on a whole new meaning. Anyone who was told they couldn’t “straddle the fence” forever knew it wasn’t about those pasture fences anymore. It meant there were important decisions to be made and choices from which you have to make those decisions.
If you happen to be one of those people who have such a fear of failure that you have just sat back because you were so afraid of making the wrong decision, I’d like to give you something to consider.
Not all choices result in right and wrong. Sometimes it just gives you a choice “to settle” or to “strive for better.” And everyone who reaches for their dreams and goals in life has failed at one time or another—and some more than others.
So get off that fence and chase your dreams! I’m not talking about a pasture fence either. Let’s just refer to it as the “fence of life.”
On second thought, I believe I’ll go stand on the fence, check out both sides and look over the horizon. I’m not staying on it, though, because there happen to still be dreams I need to work on.
Until later….
