By Brad Campbell –

Just a thought to help start your week.

It is a glorious Monday morning yet again.  The birds are chirping.  The sun is shining.  And all the temptations you felt this morning to cover up your head and stay in the bed were also felt by most of the rest of us.

This creature (either ugly or cute, depending on your hate-’em or love-’em attitude) was caught staring into a low window at the back of our house one evening.  It’s an opossum — or as most of us call it, a possum.  Strange creatures, they were even once described in the very early 1600’s by John Smith and his secretary as having a head like a swine, a tail like a rat, and being as big as a cat.

One thing that makes the possum interesting is it’s ability to “play possum”.  When threatened or faced with some sort of danger, it curls up and pretends to be asleep, much like you were tempted to do this morning.  But, alas, just playing possum doesn’t make the world go away.  We only close our eyes to the opportunities around us.

Instead of giving in to the temptation to “play possum”, keeping our distance from the world, we should remember there are hurting people all around us who need to see a smile.  Ok, maybe our smile is goofy and scary like that of the possum, but at least it’s a smile!  Be bold, be brave, meet the world head on this week.

Just a thought.