Fodder

For many years I prayed for healing.  I hoped and prayed, knowing God would heal me, assuming He was taking so long because I am apparently a 'late bloomer.'  Every good thing that has happened in my life has happened later in my life than most people.  Life is like that for many of us.  So when the healing did not happen, I was initially alright, but then things began to go downhill.  I had to step out  of myself and my normal way of dealing with pain, to get things under control.  But in the middle of all of those years, and even now, I have had to deal with fodder.  What is fodder? Fodder= fod·der noun.

1. coarse food for livestock, composed of entire plants, including leaves, stalks, and grain, of such forages as corn and sorghum.  2. people considered as readily available and of little value: cannon fodder.  3. raw material: fodder for a comedian's routine. (Dictionary.com).

ɒd ər/ Show Spelled  For the purpose of this post, I will use meanings one and two, but I will modify meaning number two since I do not believe human beings should be considered fodder.  Although I consider myself to have a sense of humor, I am not a comedian, so meaning number three is out.

So, I, like everyone else I am sure, has had to deal with foot-in-mouth syndrome.   Fortunately, for those of us who may be prone to this syndrome, we know we have the syndrome and we work on it instead of making excuses for why we can't change.  After all, if we do not admit our weaknesses as well as your strengths, our weaknesses can run and potentially ruin your life.  It does not have to be that way.  At any rate, that is another subject for another day.

Fodder.  Many of us have secret hurts and unanswered prayers that we will have to deal with for the rest of our lives.  We do not usually discuss this things with strangers or even with acquaintances.  Our family members and close friends probably know, and those are the people to whom we turn.  But some things are evident to strangers, co-workers, acquaintances, others.  And although these things are evident, some people have decided that they would 'go there'.  These people have decided for their own reasons: pride, jealousy, envy, low self-esteem, to allow fodder to come out of their mouths.  This is usually done in an effort to make themselves seem or feel bigger, due to their own struggle, realized or un-realized, of the before mentioned nouns. 

You see, when people--Christians and non-Christians--struggle with these issues, they will take it out on the person standing closest to them.  We must decide how to deal with the fodder that comes out of these people's mouths.  We can allow the fodder to set us up for a daily fight.  We can become bitter towards people in general, or we can use the fodder to help others and ourselves.  I have decided to do just that.  I have decided that whenever someone comes down with foot-in-mouth syndrome at my expense, or they allow fodder to come out of their mouth because of pride, jealousy, envy, or low self-esteem, I will use what they say in my next book, in a positive and tasteful way. 

For those of you who do not write, I would suggest taking fodder and turning it around for the positive.  Do not allow fodder and foot-in-mouth disease to take you to a negative place.  It's not worth it to you or to those around you.  I would also pray for these people, because usually it is a handful of repeat offenders, so you know who they are.  And remember that we are all human.  Any of us can succumb to foot-in-mouth disease.  We all make mistakes.  I am referring though, to people who usually know exactly what they are doing. 

Be wise about who you spend time with, remain positive, pray for these people, and turn fodder into  something positive.  If this helps, remember that when animals eat fodder, it does not kill them, it is for their good and for ours, in the end.