Cowboy up, Chicken Little...More Things Dinah Said...

Last week was hard.

Going back to life and work so quickly after saying goodbye to Dinah seemed so surreal.

The weight of that reality for her family...heavy on our hearts, heavy on theirs....

A lot of heavy.

Tears fresh in my eyes as I walked into work, heavy with thoughts of her and images of grief-stricken faces parading through my mind.

Tuesday, Wednesday...

By Thursday, I awoke once more with the heavy. The heavy of cancer's fury, of another goodbye, of all the sorrow this world offers, the reality of death, the missing of my friend. I looked in the mirror at the dark circles, the pale face, the worn look of one who has lived a lot of life in thirty-five years. I sighed heavily.

Another day, really?

Then, her words...playing in my mind as they had so many times before.

"Cowboy up, Chicken Little. Just do the next thing."

She always called me Chicken Little. I have no idea why. She called her daughter, Christy, the same thing. A compliment indeed, since Christy is one of the most cool, beautiful, classy chicks I know. She has a lot of her mother in her. Dinah liked the saying "cowboy up"...meaning, "man up", "pull yourself up by your bootstraps". Dinah was a horse lover. I'm smiling now, picturing the cowboy boots under her casket. So Dinah.

"Just do the next thing" was a phrase spoken by Elizabeth Elliot...a phrase we share here, often when talking about grief. When life overwhelms us, when things hurt too much...just do the next thing. It might be: get out of bed, brush your teeth, get dressed, go to work. Keep it simple. Give yourself grace. Dinah loved it and said it often.

So, I cowboyed up...got ready for work, got into the car, put one foot in front of the other....did the next thing. And, the next, and the next.

I've been thinking of a couple other things she said to me when I was young and feisty.

"Life is a process, not an event."

"He makes all things beautiful in His time." (love this truth...love this song.)

Years ago, when I was frustrated and wanted to let someone have it...tell them how it is, she would say...

"What is your goal? What are your trying to achieve by saying that or doing that?"

Those words reminded me to have self-control. I learned to pray more and speak less. Now, the Lord has imparted much grace into my life, teaching me that He is faithful if I wait on Him. I'm so grateful for Dinah's wisdom and patience as she taught my young, head-strong, opinionated self to hold my tongue.

The gift of her life is ongoing. Many are missing her...and we will miss her until we enter heaven's gates. But, until then...it is her voice in our heads along with His strength, encouraging us to cowboy up and do the next thing.

To read more nuggets of wisdom from Dinah, click here.

P.S. I just had to come back and add another quote mentioned by my pastor this morning that I so loved. I think Dinah would have liked this one, too. It was on a magnet that Pastor James' mom, Joyce (another woman I dearly love), had on her refrigerator. It read: "Don't try to outstubborn your mother."

Good stuff.