TODAY THE WORDS are WHEN YOU ARE ON YOUR LAST LEG. Some of my readers are not familiar with me to know I still work even though I proclaimed over a year ago, I was semi retiring. I have mixed emotions but overall, I feel it is healthy to keep working. There are days, however, I feel I might be on my last leg and it is hard to accept I am getting older. What does it mean to be on “your last leg”? Let’s see what Yahoo.answers:
To be “on your last leg” is to be near the end; near collapse. You have scarce resources left to complete something. “Our old family dog is on her last leg (meaning tired, near death). The “leg” here can be interpreted in two ways. First, comparing a leg to the tired or injured legs of a person or an animal after extended effort; there is not much left to stand on. A “leg” is also a counting word for a segment of a long journey. “I would be glad to sell you my car, but I must tell you that it is on its last leg.” on your last legs | on its last legs informal
Meaning: If you say you’re on your last legs, it can mean you’re close to exhaustion, or it can mean you’re close to death. If a thing is on its last legs, it’s close to breaking or wearing out.
I thought I would take the phrase and dissect it a little more. I think most of you have experienced this scenario. Have you been standing in line for a long time and you feel the line is never going to move for you to get to the front of the line to conduct your business or the reason you got in the line in the first place? I have; I have stood until I had to shift my weight on the “other leg” to have some relief from the weight and pressure. This action gives me temporary relief but it is not long before I have to shift my weight again and again until the line starts moving. So whether it is my other leg or my last leg; it is aggravating and works on my small patience.
I began to think about life and how it works similarly. We start in life with our legs not strong enough to hold our weight and we figure out to move we have to crawl on both of our legs until we realize those big people who are using a different method seem to go farther. We struggle until we pull ourselves up to a table and then comes the wobbling period of taking a step or two and down we go. We get up again and we fall down. We try again and what happens is we manage to take more and more steps and off we go. Now, we explore as we are intrigued by what the big folks were moving around so much. We run hard and long; we live and experience what using both our legs can do for us. At some point, we find our legs ache a little but we push past this hurt and go on. We have injuries and have to have some support like a brace, crutches if we injure ourselves seriously. We get better and we move again; it may be a little slower and life continues until we feel we are on our last leg. At this time, more than any other time; we can either decide to sit down and stop standing on our last leg or we can pace ourselves and keep moving. I remember our Mother as she moved in her 80’s saying “I still go; I just go slower and take my time.”Now for the deeper thought…..If you feel you are on your last leg; shift your weight to Our Higher Power or as the song goes “Lean on Me” when times get rough. Life has its moments, good and bad and at times we all need to take the weight of life off and prayers, faith, family, friends and a shift in our thinking can remove the added pressures. I am humming “Take a load off, Sally“.
DAILY FEATURED BIBLE VERSE:
Matthew 11:28-30 ESV
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
(c) copyright 2015 Arline Lott Miller. The material here copyrighted, use only by permission.
