Eating an Elephant

Recently when Elizabeth has been faced with daunting tasks I've taught her the old proverb, "How do you eat and elephant? One bite at a time."

Now when she's overwhelmed I'll ask her, "Baby, how do you eat an elephant?"

"Bite by bite," she replies--her translation of what I've told her.

In one of my favorite books ever in one of my favorite series ever, The Fields of Home by Ralph Moody, Ralph's Uncle Levi tells him, "Slow and steady goes far in a day." Ralph discovers that careful, steady work is more productive than hasty intensity.

Over the past couple days I've faced a mammoth job, and that refrain has gone over and over in my mind. Slow and steady goes far in a day. And I remember that you eat an elephant one bite at a time.

So here I am taking a short break from elephant-eating. And now I'm off to keep up a slow and steady pace so I can FINISH THIS THING!!!