Play with the hand with which you are dealt

I had a buddy who joined the Navy during the Vietnam build-up. During training a defective hand grenade went off in his hand. Fortunately the blast went away from his body and it did not kill him, but he lost his hand in the process. He came home and we planned a big welcome home party at a local pub. Everyone was in a pretty tearful, somber mood.
This guy had been a football player, basketball star and pitched on our baseball team. Now he had a nub where he once had a hand. It turned out that one person in the party was not in a tearful, somber mood – him! After he arrived and we all became reacquainted we got seated at our table. I was talking with some people when I looked over at the waitress whose mouth was hanging open and she looked like she had seen a ghost. I turned to see what she was looking at and it was my buddy. He had inserted his nub in his mouth and it looked like his hand was inside his mouth and head. I cannot adequately describe how this looked, but I can tell you that it was hilarious. This behavior was indicative of how he mourned the loss of his hand – He didn’t! He just accepted it and made the best of it.

I see people getting liposuction, tummy tucks, face lifts, breast lifts and enlargements, hair dyes, crows feet removed from the old eyes, wigs for the bald. etc. and I shake my head. My brother once tried to get me to dye my gray eyebrows and hair. Why? I asked. He said so I could look younger. I tried dying my hair and eyebrows to hide the gray one time. I left the dye on too long and ended up looking like Roy Orbison for about a month. My hair was nearly jet black as were my eyebrows. My staff literally laughed hysterically for 10 minutes with tears streaming down their faces when I walked in the door. Never again! I will try to exercise and eat right to get rid of my gut, but that is where it ends.
I’m playing with the hand I have been dealt.

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Proverbs 16:31
The silver-haired head is a
crown of glory,
if it is found in the way of
righteousness.

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