This article is another installment in Brother P’s series, “Lessons From the Nursing Home.”

I work in a nursing home, and much of my job consists of getting people out of bed and walking them around. One particular guy that I had to work with had post-polio syndrome, which affected his left arm and leg. He called himself “gimpy” because of the residual deficits he endured most of his life. And just before you start to feel bad for him, let me tell you, it gets much worse.

He reports that because of his gimpy-ness, he decided to cope with life by turning to drugs. (And let me just interject with an emphatic “Say NO to drugs! Don’t even start!”) The result of the drugs was a stroke that left his “good” right arm and right leg almost completely useless.

The chances of this guy ever walking again were quite slim, but he put Olympic-sized effort into walking again. After several months of working, buckets of sweat, many failures, and an unceasing, unwavering drive, he was able to traverse about 250 feet on a single walk.

I heard Dave Ramsey say something to the effect of “What you focus on is what you win at.” And my post-polio-stroke guy focused on walking. Despite all odds, he was successful. I guess you might be able to say he “hungered and thirsted” after walking.

I wonder what would happen if we actually hungered and thirsted after righteousness? Would we make it to Sunday school and Wednesday night meeting (maybe even on time)? Would we dump our many excuses for not reading scriptures, not tithing, not spending time in prayer, not fasting?

If we focused on righteousness, would we win?

This article has undergone ministry review and approval.