“There you have it, Laura!” Pa said. “It’s all in that word “manage”. You might not get far with Clarence, even if you were big enough to punish him as he deserves. Brute force can’t do much. Everybody’s born free, you know, like it says in the Declaration of Independence. You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink, and good or bad, nobody but Clarence can ever boss Clarence. You better just manage.” – These Happy Golden Years p. 54
In this part of the book Laura was frustrated with her situation. She was unable to take charge of the kids at the school she was teaching and she wasn’t sure how she was going to get by for the rest of her term.
I’m pretty sure we’ve all been there. What sounded like a good plan in the beginning isn’t turning out the way we hoped and situations get out of our control. We like having that control and when we realize it’s slipping out of our hands we get confused, frustrated, and maybe even a little desperate.
That’s why Pa’s advice here is golden. Even though we can’t always be in control of our situation (And let’s face it, do you really want to have to be in control?) we can still manage it.
If your finances spiral out of our control, let’s say unexpected medical bills come pouring in putting us deeper into debt. We may not be able to control the medical bills but we can try and manage our finances by creating a budget, getting an extra part time job, or even selling homemade crafts to help pay off those debts.
Maybe we are trying to sell a house and we just aren’t finding a buyer. Can you control someone’s actions and make them buy it? No. But you can stage the house or use local resources to place more classified ads for it.
Just a good thought to remember today. We may not be able to have control, but at least we can try and manage.
Do you have an encouraging story of a situation that was out of your control but within your management? Share with us below!
Make sure you check out the entire Living Like Little House series!
Gwen Hunter Valentino says
February 16, 2012 at 10:12 amWe started this book last night…then after the kids went to bed I finished it!! Stayed up all night but it was soooo good!
Jennifer says
February 16, 2012 at 12:48 pmGood point! Something similar came up this year with my daughter. She is a gymnast and right now her routines are set and everyone performs the same one. But in 2 months she will be done with that phase of gymnastics and get to make up her own routines. She has really been struggling this year on a certain skill – a skill she has struggled with for years. It was ruining her love of gymnastics.
I sat her down and pointed this out to her. We talked about how it is what it is, she just needs to manage as best she can and get through it until the end of the season. After years of working on this skill it likely won’t change now and after this season she never has to do it anymore if she doesn’t want to. So she has managed the past 2 months and life is much better. She still doesn’t have the skill right, she just does it as best she can and moves on.