Just a note in case you missed the transition to my new website.
Find me now at www.500-words.com!
Thanks!
Friday, February 13, 2015
Saturday, January 17, 2015
Announcement....
I am finally updating my blog site!
Hence, my Saturday night post looks like it will appear on about Tuesday night instead.
But to make up for it, there will be a give away with the new blog post!
Stay tuned!
Hence, my Saturday night post looks like it will appear on about Tuesday night instead.
But to make up for it, there will be a give away with the new blog post!
Stay tuned!
Saturday, January 10, 2015
Stupid days, and rich people
"That was stupid!" one of my co-workers said as she sailed into our locker room at work at 6pm, to change back into civilian clothes.
Before she said what was stupid, I was in full agreement. I couldn't remember ever feeling worse about two days of work, although my memory was probably shortened by exasperation.
"This whole day!" she exclaimed, yanking open open her locker door much as I had just done. "I can't think of any word for it besides stupid!"
Like I said, I completely agreed.
But, I thought back a few days to another moment when I wasn't exactly thanking God either. On that day, I rushed down the arctic tunnel from the parking garage to the hospital, five minutes late (at least) to my mandatory employee health appointment, which by some twist of misfortune, landed on my day off. I was not in the mood to be at the hospital, and I was not in the mood to freeze.
But as I dashed down the hall to Elevator C, mind in a frenzy, I smelled the brewing coffee.
I gently pressed the UP elevator button, my mind as quiet as the carpet.
Yes, the world is crammed full of bad schedules, injustices, unfair reprimands, dishonesty, spite, pain, jealousy, frustration, and misunderstandings....but yet....but yet!.... what a wonderful world we live in, where so many things are still right!
It's zero degrees outside, and bitterly cold, but the building is still warm.
It's zero degrees outside, and bitterly cold, but the kitchen staff made it to work.
There's fresh coffee brewing.
Coffee is not a necessity, despite what most of us think. Coffee is a social pleasure, a thing that people drink mostly because it makes them happy, or it keeps them from falling asleep. Not a necessity. If coffee suddenly disappeared off the market, we would treat it like a national catastrophe. But that doesn't make it a necessity, it just means we're rich.
Yet, like many other comforts in life, we usually consider it a right, not a gift. We expect to be able to buy our way through life. We think we deserve the dollars in our pockets, the mugs in our hands, the ready availability of warm beds and slippers and vehicles with heaters.
Does this mean that people without dollars and warm drinks, slippers and warm beds, are somehow a lesser species than us, and don't deserve those things? (We humans are so laughable, are we not? If we all got what we deserved, woe to us all!)
It's so easy to forget to give thanks on the stupid days. In your mercy, God, remind us of our countless, undeserved blessings!
***For those following my weight-loss/build a school fundraiser, here are the results from my first two weeks:
December 27th-January 3rd: 6.2 pounds (I did not cheat, although I will confess to eating a lot the day before my first weigh-in.)
January 4th-January 10th: 1.4 pounds
So far so good! If you gave a pledge for the fundraiser, relax; I'm pretty sure I won't lose 7.6 pounds every two weeks until Easter. If you didn't give a pledge yet, but are thinking about it, you are not allowed to let this update affect your donation! No seriously, I am very grateful for every pledge.
Before she said what was stupid, I was in full agreement. I couldn't remember ever feeling worse about two days of work, although my memory was probably shortened by exasperation.
"This whole day!" she exclaimed, yanking open open her locker door much as I had just done. "I can't think of any word for it besides stupid!"
Like I said, I completely agreed.
But, I thought back a few days to another moment when I wasn't exactly thanking God either. On that day, I rushed down the arctic tunnel from the parking garage to the hospital, five minutes late (at least) to my mandatory employee health appointment, which by some twist of misfortune, landed on my day off. I was not in the mood to be at the hospital, and I was not in the mood to freeze.
But as I dashed down the hall to Elevator C, mind in a frenzy, I smelled the brewing coffee.
I gently pressed the UP elevator button, my mind as quiet as the carpet. Yes, the world is crammed full of bad schedules, injustices, unfair reprimands, dishonesty, spite, pain, jealousy, frustration, and misunderstandings....but yet....but yet!.... what a wonderful world we live in, where so many things are still right!
It's zero degrees outside, and bitterly cold, but the building is still warm.
It's zero degrees outside, and bitterly cold, but the kitchen staff made it to work.
There's fresh coffee brewing.
Coffee is not a necessity, despite what most of us think. Coffee is a social pleasure, a thing that people drink mostly because it makes them happy, or it keeps them from falling asleep. Not a necessity. If coffee suddenly disappeared off the market, we would treat it like a national catastrophe. But that doesn't make it a necessity, it just means we're rich.
Yet, like many other comforts in life, we usually consider it a right, not a gift. We expect to be able to buy our way through life. We think we deserve the dollars in our pockets, the mugs in our hands, the ready availability of warm beds and slippers and vehicles with heaters.
Does this mean that people without dollars and warm drinks, slippers and warm beds, are somehow a lesser species than us, and don't deserve those things? (We humans are so laughable, are we not? If we all got what we deserved, woe to us all!)
It's so easy to forget to give thanks on the stupid days. In your mercy, God, remind us of our countless, undeserved blessings!
***For those following my weight-loss/build a school fundraiser, here are the results from my first two weeks:
December 27th-January 3rd: 6.2 pounds (I did not cheat, although I will confess to eating a lot the day before my first weigh-in.)
January 4th-January 10th: 1.4 pounds
So far so good! If you gave a pledge for the fundraiser, relax; I'm pretty sure I won't lose 7.6 pounds every two weeks until Easter. If you didn't give a pledge yet, but are thinking about it, you are not allowed to let this update affect your donation! No seriously, I am very grateful for every pledge.
Saturday, January 3, 2015
"Men like you can never change, a man such as you..."
I love the story of Les Miserables.
Just a few minutes ago, I was lying on my friends' couch (my typical Saturday night state--thank God for hospitable friends!). We discussed change, and how hard it is to have faith that it will come, either in ourselves or in others.
Now, I'm at my wooden kitchen table, head resting on the chair back (poor posture alert). I just heard this song playing from the speakers in my bathroom.
Javert, the chief of police, sings those words to Jean Valjean, the ex-convict hero of Les Miserables.
The policeman goes on: "You know nothing of Javert. I was born inside a jail. I was born with scum like you. I am from the gutter, too."
It's a heartbreak, because so often, it's true. People don't change much. Sometimes people make miraculous life changes, but it's so unusual, we treasure their stories like rare metal.
The Bible also agrees with Javert's "scum" comment. We are all from the gutter. We were all born in jail.
But what Javert ignores is that God had given Jean Valjean the key from the jail, when he was forgiven by the kind bishop who could have had him arrested for theft.
Jean Valjean couldn't change, but God changed him.
It takes only a moment for God to forever change people. Once witness to his power to change, we get excited. Like the bishop, we realize that nothing, no one, is beyond God's reach. "Men like us" can change.
Like the old bishop, we become the conduit of God's presence.... to the next person that no one believed would ever change.
Just a few minutes ago, I was lying on my friends' couch (my typical Saturday night state--thank God for hospitable friends!). We discussed change, and how hard it is to have faith that it will come, either in ourselves or in others.
Now, I'm at my wooden kitchen table, head resting on the chair back (poor posture alert). I just heard this song playing from the speakers in my bathroom. Javert, the chief of police, sings those words to Jean Valjean, the ex-convict hero of Les Miserables.
The policeman goes on: "You know nothing of Javert. I was born inside a jail. I was born with scum like you. I am from the gutter, too."
It's a heartbreak, because so often, it's true. People don't change much. Sometimes people make miraculous life changes, but it's so unusual, we treasure their stories like rare metal.
The Bible also agrees with Javert's "scum" comment. We are all from the gutter. We were all born in jail.
But what Javert ignores is that God had given Jean Valjean the key from the jail, when he was forgiven by the kind bishop who could have had him arrested for theft.
Jean Valjean couldn't change, but God changed him.
It takes only a moment for God to forever change people. Once witness to his power to change, we get excited. Like the bishop, we realize that nothing, no one, is beyond God's reach. "Men like us" can change.
Like the old bishop, we become the conduit of God's presence.... to the next person that no one believed would ever change.
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