“Strike While The Iron Is Hot”

We’ve all heard the expression, “strike while the iron is hot”. Literally it means to strike a hot piece of metal with a mallet before it cools in order to shape it. Its non-literal meaning is “take advantage of an opportunity as soon as it exists, in case the opportunity goes away…. act decisively”. 

I bet my old English teacher Sister Rose would be proud of me for using idioms in my writings… “I always knew Touhill had potential. I knew at some point he would stop “kicking the can down the road” and “beating around the bush”. As I remember Sr. Rose used to refer to me as an “idiom”, or it sounded like idiom…hmmmmm. 

Anyway, let’s get to the heart of this BLOG. Opportunities often arise … chances to make serious progress in our life or in the lives of others. We may recognize the opportunity and be excited about it, but if we don’t move with it, it will disappear. It’s not sufficient to simply recognize the opportunity, we need to act on it. 

I’ve done it both ways. At times, I do move with the opportunity and reap the harvest. Other times, I think about the opportunity and picture the results but let it slip thru my fingers. I see this tendency in myself and I see it in others. Maybe the opportunity will come around again and we can capitalize on it, but maybe not. As you get older, the opportunities start to reach an end…. “If I’m going to climb Mt. Everest, I better get started.”  

What should we do when we sense an important opportunity is right before us:

• “you know honey, we need to move to this area in order to get support for our life and family…. 
• I should actively look to get a better job that will allow me to be home more and still provide for my family ….
• I should call my sister/brother/parent/friend and tell them I love them  ….
• I should go on retreat…. I should take steps to eat more healthy…to exercise…..

When we experience these opportunities we need to act on them. Daydreaming about them doesn’t do any good. First we need to pray and ask the Holy Spirit to confirm that these are true opportunities that can bring progress in my life. We need to discuss them with our spouse, with a trusted friend to confirm that this is a real opportunity that I need to pursue.  Once I’m confident of that, then begin to take concrete steps.  It may not work out, but let’s pursue it and find out. 

I actually have a few items on my “to-do” list that I need to pursue…items that could be real opportunities for progress…but I need to actively check them out. Okay, here I go….no more “kicking the can down the road”. Holy Spirit, give me strength to start taking a few steps. Wow, this is exciting. Let’s go.