Never.
Never in a million years.
Why, I would never think of......
My kids will never......
Have you ever uttered one of these? I certainly have - probably thousands of times across the years of my life. I suppose my "nevers" began somewhere in my teens, although I cannot say with any certainty. I have "never" kept track.
Some of my favorite "nevers" would be regarding children. BK - before kids - I know I uttered the word "never" and, quite possibly, not infrequently. "My kids will never....." "My kids will never be allowed to....." "Children should not......." "You'll never see my kids......" Then, at least in my case, my words flew out the window in a puff of smoke as reality entered the room and the experience of actually being a parent settled over my spouse and I. If I had a recording of all the definitive statements I made regarding parenthood and children, I'd be eating my words from now until doomsday.
I've uttered the word "never" in other life-instances as well. Quite a number of years ago, I underwent a surgical procedure and, prior to the surgery, I declared that I would "never do" something post-surgery. Well, God had different ideas and He humbled me mightily to the point that I was grateful to "do" that would I swore, up and down, that I would NEVER "do". I am also positive that, when I was less long-in-the-tooth, I made other utterances to the effect that when I got older, I would "never"......yada, yada, yada and ha ha ha.
Well, here I am and, just today - in the wee hours of pre-dawn, as I lay sleepless yet one more morning at 4:30 a.m. - I thought to myself, "OMG, I'm one of them!" - the person who is becoming longer-in-the-tooth that cannot sleep and awakens each day at some "o'dark-hundred" hour. I was positive I would "never" do that.
It is so very ironic that, all to often, we do become that which we pledged we would NEVER become. The conversion may come gradually, with the realization slowly edging into our consciousness, or, as in my case, come as a sudden whack to the side of the head with that 2 X 4 that God uses with such effective and accurate aim and accompanying force.
Will I never cease saying never?
Probably never.
Ancora imparo
