Life Is Like Fingernails - Not a Box of Chocolates

The popular movie “Forrest Gump” is about a man, ironically named, Forrest Gump. Most of us would consider him slow, not having the mentality of a person his age, but in many ways that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Numerous times in the movie he would say “Mama always said, life is like a box of chocolates”.  To this day I’m still not sure exactly what that means, he certainly did.

When I was younger I slammed the car door on my thumb.  The whole nail turned black and took a long time to completely fall off.  After a while you could actually pop the blackened nail up to reveal the new nail growing underneath.  Honestly, I really enjoyed freaking my fellow classmates when I did that!  The nail grew back and when it did, it was, and still is, slightly “disfigured”, one part of the cuticle it is slightly higher than the rest.  Although currently it isn’t as noticeable as it used to be, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

More recently (I wrote this in November) I slammed the same thumb in a safe door, but this time only a portion of it turned black.  The entire nail didn’t fall off but I could clearly see the black grow out and there was even a hole between the old and new nail.

As I look at it today, the black is almost gone and the cuticle isn’t quite as white as the rest.  Just another battle scar to the cuticle than there used to be, but it’s only noticeable to me.

What I am finally getting to is that the nails grew out and new ones replaced them.

I realized this morning that life is like fingernails.  The black that we may feel in our lives, grows out over time and we have a clean brand new slate.

Similar to a bad hair cut, it takes a while, much longer than we want it to, but it does grow out.  If we don’t dwell on it and replay the “horror” of what we felt at the time we can put it in the past and begin anew.

Hopefully we learn from the past and get a new stylist or choose a cut that will be more suited to our hair type.  We may have been warned that it won’t work for us but maybe we insisted and learned the hard way.

The slate, whether it is nails or hair, is “clean” once again.

Now finally to the reason that I’m writing this, this is exactly what God does for us.

It doesn’t matter what we have done in the past, today is not the past, today is a new day.

More importantly, all we have to do is ask for forgiveness and it is ours.



Katy Manning Schutte

LIFE IS LIKE...THE OUR FATHER

Just in case it’s been a while since you said it…

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name: Thy kingdom come: Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our DAILY bread: and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.  And lead us not into temptation: but deliver us from evil.  Amen.

There, now we are up to speed.

I’m sure you noticed that I capitalized DAILY in the prayer.  This isn’t a typo, it’s the ‘issue’ I have with the Our Father.

Don’t ya just wish the word daily was replaced with monthly or yearly?  That way we wouldn’t have to say it day in and day out.  And if it has to be daily, why not update it?  How does give us this day our daily dough (and I don’t mean the bread making stuff either) sound to you?

I guess it’s the whole trust in God day by day and He’ll provide for us.  When I pray the Our Father I really emphasize daily, this usually happens just before getting the mail.  Praying there aren’t any bills “stuffed” in the mailbox and hoping for an unexpected check, which almost never happens.  I gotta try though! 

He does provide for us day by day by day.  Sometimes, ok, most of the time, not as much as we’d like Him to but so goes life.

Life is Like...Unanswered Prayers


It is hard for me to pick just one or two favorite songs, because I have too many.  But one of my favorites is “Unanswered Prayers” by Garth Brooks.

What that song so beautifully expresses is that even though we pray (because we want something so badly) it isn’t that He doesn’t hear our prayer it’s “just because He doesn’t answer, doesn’t mean He don’t care...because some of God’s greatest gifts, ARE unanswered prayers.

We may think we know what is best for us, but that is just it, we think we know.  And He and only He knows what is best for us and will not “answer” all of our prayers just because we pray for it.  We think in the short-term but that is not necessarily what is best for us in the long-term.

Some of God’s greatest gifts (TO US), are unanswered prayers.  And we have to remember that it isn’t because He doesn’t care, it is because He does.
Katy Manning Schutte

Now to give credit where credit is due:

I want to credit my beloved husband Joe. His creative writing style of being able to work humor in everything he writes. I hope that during the 10 years of reading and being the 1^st editor, of his Blah-Blah-Blah column, that some of his creativity has worn-off on me. If not, blame him, I will.

I also want to say that I honestly believe that I would not still be alive if not for his unwavering support and love. He has gone through more than you can ever image with my ongoing mental illnesses and numerous other major issues in my life. He has always stayed by my side and keeps me and my mental health as his #1 priority.

With everything I have, and unfortunately continue to, put him through he is still with me. It is my firm belief that no other man on the face of this planet would have stayed with me this long.

I pray for him (and would appreciate your prayers as well) both in thanks and also the heavy burden that he continues to carry.

Thank you for reading this article and I promise that they are not all gushy about Joe!

I like to consider my Life Is Like… blogages (spell check doesn’t like that word but I do) everyday things and how God works into them.

Katy Manning Schutte

(You may notice that I sign my blogages using my maiden name, as well as my married name, that’s because I’m proud to be a Manning as well as a Schutte.)

A quick note!

The first Life Is Like…  I wrote (late 2009) was Life Is Like…Unanswered Prayers (inspired by the Garth Brooks song).

Check out Joe’s blog (yooperblahblahblah.blogspot.com) for more of my Life I Like... (aka LIL) postings LIL…Dem Thar Closed Doors, A Scab, Responsibility (Sucks), A ‘Storm’ and September 11^th.

You will notice reading my LIL… posts that I write quite a bit about my mental health illness.  It isn’t something I’m proud of but it is definitely not something I’m ashamed of either.  I firmly believe that it is very important to discuss depression and anxiety issues to let others know they are not alone and that they shouldn’t feel ashamed either.