I Dare You…

By: Steph Fink

What kind of mother dares her son to eat a hot pepper and then offers $1 if he eats said pepper? Ahem…

What kind of wife dares her husband to say, “Top of the morning to you!” to complete strangers on St. Patrick’s Day?  Double ahem…

What kind of mother dares her kids to a smiling competition while inside a Home Depot store?  Triple ahem…

All of the about dares happened by yours truly and were entirely in-the-moment dares.  The last dare was my feeble attempt to refocus my boys which were on each other’s last nerve (and therefore also on my last nerve).  I spouted this dare out in the hopes that this new shiny object would distract them long enough to start acting right.  The rules were simple.  Get a stranger to smile, earn a point.  The person with the most points wins.

Knowing my competitive crew, I knew it’d be game-on.

I watched as my one shy, and my other not-so-shy sons eagerly embraced this dare.  They met complete strangers eye to eye and smiled with a, “Hello!”  More times than not, the stranger would smile back and earn them a point.

What amazed me most is that one particularly grumpy-looking person, smiled.  I’ve learned that it’s often difficult to feel grumpy when smiling.  I have to say that was a really great moment.

Since I seem to be a fan of saying, “I dare you…”, I want to encourage you that if you’re having one of those days, I dare you to get your smile-on! 

Have you ever felt like life’s passing by too quickly and there’s just not enough hours in a day?  Job knew what it was like to have a really bad day.  I smiled when I read this excerpt; I hope it makes you smile too! 

“My time is short—what’s left of my life races off too fast for me to even glimpse the good. My life is going fast, like a ship under full sail, like an eagle plummeting to its prey. Even if I say, ‘I’ll put all this behind me, I’ll look on the bright side and force a smile,’” Job 9:25-31 (Message)

When have you ever said, “I dare you…”?

*Steph is excited to announce that she’s currently writing her very first eBook!  She will no longer appear here weekly, but monthly!