On Eating Frogs

     I've been told that frog legs taste like chicken. I don't buy it--frogs don't look like chickens so I can't convince myself they taste like them either.

     I once saw a blue heron swallow a swollen slimy frog in one oversized gulp. I believe it was still alive as it slid down the bird's slender throat. Another time my brother and I hunted the most enormous frogs you ever saw at a camp lake in Pennsylvania. There are some pictures of us somewhere holding our prey with their hind legs extended down to our kneecaps. I think that the "frogs give you warts" idea is a myth. If it were true we would have had more warts than a cackling old witch.
     Frogs can make for a good metaphor. I learned this while reading a book on managing time and priorities by Mark DeVries. In the book, he says we all have a frog to eat each day. He assumes that the reader will find this idea revolting. A whole frog? That's gross. So he grabs onto it and explains that the frog represents that one thing you have to do each day that you really need to do but really don't want to do. It's that thing that really will change your life but it's hard, nasty, boring, or some other word that leads us to shrink back in disgust. He goes on to say that frogs come in different sizes, but the important thing is that we eat them. Why? Because tomorrow has its own frog and you don't want to find yourself with two on your plate.
     We learn from the Bible that frogs can tend to multiply. That's true of tasks and unaddressed items on our "to-do" lists as well. See, we don't get to choose whether there is a frog on our plate each day. We can't tell the waiter we'd like the pork chop instead. Those marble-like eyes inevitably stare up at us whether we like it or not.
     When students look at homework, the assignment that's most annoying is probably the frog. When we think about chores around the house, the one we've been dreading is probably the frog. Making dinner might be the frog, or folding the Mount Everest of laundry. Whatever is most important and either most difficult or most unenjoyable on our lists each day is the frog.
     If I don't eat today's frog because I just can't bring myself to do it or was just plain lazy I will end up with two frogs tomorrow...and three the next day. Before long we're in as bad a shape as the Egyptians when Moses was around. Speaking of Moses, it was he who prayed this to the LORD: "Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom" (Ps. 90:12) I wonder if he was thinking about doing the most important things as he listened to the croaking of frogs in the distance.
     I don't like the reality that the things that will impact my life the most--the things that really matter--tend to be the things I leave till last on my list for the day. My inner procrastinator will allow me to check off the easy, fluffy, and simple tasks without much of a fight. Frogs on the other hand?...Let the battle begin!
     I have discovered that eating frogs is best done before lunch. The longer I wait the more impact it has on my day. If I eat it early I can spend the rest of the day free from the dread of eating frogs and work on more enjoyable things. If we procrastinate, it tends to dominate our thinking and weigh us down with negative emotions.
     Proverbs 21:5 says, "The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance." Diligence means doing work in a careful, persistent, and timely fashion. Sounds like Solomon was thinking of frog eaters. Please pass the salt and pepper.