Kim Stokely .com

This week I’d like to tell you about one of the most inspirational people in my life, my mother. I won’t divulge her age on the internet but I will say she’s experienced more in her lifetime than most people I know.

Raised in London, England she lived through WWII while just a young girl. Sent away from her family to escape the bombs she spent five years living with strangers in the country. She married my father, started a family and ran a store by the time she was twenty-one.  Nine years later she and my father sailed with their two children and a steamer trunk to America hoping to make a better life.

She raised four children. She helped my dad start and run his own elevator company. She survived the death of her husband at the age of sixty and won her own battle with breast cancer at seventy. Nothing seems to keep her down.

 My mom has stayed positive through some of the hardest battles imaginable. She’s one tough cookie but she’s also got a heart of gold. When life starts getting her down she finds a way to pick herself up again. If she can’t find a friend to lean on she reaches out and makes a new one.  She inspires me to make the most of whatever life gives me to deal with, good or bad. Thanks mom! I love you!

Is there anyone out there who hasn’t seen the video of Susan Boyle’s audition for “Britain’s Got Talent” at least once? I have to admit to watching it several times over the course of a week last year and shedding a tear just about every time.

She strutted out on that stage and declared her wish to be a singing star like Elaine Paige, a household name in England. The camera panned the audience and we saw them smirking in disbelief. But then she opened her mouth and the most glorious voice came out of the most unlikely singer.

She went on to captivate the world even though she didn’t win the competition.She dreamed her dream and had the courage to pursue it. I long for that kind of courage. Do you know the most often repeated commandment in the Bible is “Do not fear?” Sometimes a little caution is called for but often I’m guilty of letting fear stop me even trying. It’s my goal this year to take more chances. Step out of the boat and not look at the waves around me but walk on the water toward the only one who can keep me afloat.  Care to join me?

Last week my husband and I attended a performance of Mister Roberts at the Omaha Community Playhouse. I’ve seen bits and pieces of the movie with Henry Fonda and Jack Lemmon but never enough to understand the story. As I left the theater I realized what a perfect example of how our choices affect our character.

Mister Roberts is a favorite officer aboard a Navy supply ship during WWII. He longs to transfer off the ship to one that is in the thick of battle because he feels he has little influence on the war. To his men he is a hero because he’s the only person who actively stands up to the ship’s over-bearing and slightly psychotic Captain.  I don’t want to give away the end of the play, I highly recommend you attend it if you live in the area, but suffice to say that Mr. Roberts learns that true heroism occurs by the little sacrifices we make daily to help others.

Throughout the play we also glimpse the background of the Captain and see that because of his background; coming up from the working class and never going to college; he has become bitter and resentful of those he feels belittled him in his past. The Captain has chosen not to see the good in Mr. Roberts, but only the perceived slights that men like him have given him in the past.

We have choices like these to make in our own lives. We can choose to hold grudges against people for what they’ve done to us or we can let anger go and judge each person on their own merit. Like Mr. Roberts we can look for honor in service elsewhere or we can see it right where we are. Each day offers us the opportunity to serve others, in our families, at work, at school, in our neighborhoods. We shouldn’t have to have the acknowledgement of the press or awards to motivate us; but the knowledge we’ve made someone else’s life a little easier should be our only reward.