Offsetting The Ugly Stuff

"...how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him."   ... Acts 10:38

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Oh, I remember yesterday and feel as though I relaxed on the beach! 

But did I? Nah, I simply sat for 2 hours at our dining room table beside our huge window, sunshine pouring through, warming my skin through two sweater tops while dreamy French music played behind me and Daniel lay in sunlight watching birds at the feeders. 

My posthumous copy of collected Shirley Jackson short stories (Just An Ordinary Day) arrived and I read tales which had appeared in women's magazines of the 50's and 40's, though not the scary ones since I don't do scary.

There's a chapter called One Ordinary Day With Peanuts in which a man simply went around town doing good. He introduced a young man and woman to each other, gave them money so they could miss a day of work and more money so they could go to a fair or movie or park and have fun. 

While a young mother moved out of her apartment, he babysat her young son and gave him peanuts. He walked along and handed peanuts to a dog, pigeons and a bus driver. He left a large tip after he stopped for coffee and when a homeless man stood looking inside the cafe window, he slipped him money for a meal. He gave an apartment-hunting couple a heads-up about the house he'd seen vacated that morning, then babysat two children in a park when he noted their mother had fallen asleep and gave the taxi man a horse-racing tip on the ride home.

At his apartment, he asked his wife what she'd done with her day and got replies like these:

"I went into the department store this morning and accused a young woman next to me of shoplifting and had the store detective pick her up. Sent three dogs to the pound--you know, the usual thing."

"I got into a bus and asked the driver for a transfer and when he helped someone else first I said that he was impertinent and quarreled with him. And then I said why wasn't he in the army, and I said it loud enough for everyone to hear, and I took his number and turned in a complaint. Probably got him fired."

"Fine," said Mr. Johnson. "But you do look tired. Want to change over tomorrow?"

"I would like to," she said. "I could do with a change."

Oh, I loved that story! 

It illustrated that we choose how we treat others and we can offset much bad out there with much good. We can remind others on Facebook about what's negative and going wrong--or--we can alert them to what's right. 

Led around by God, we can lighten others' loads and make this dark world suddenly glow a bit brighter for them. And us. 

Astonishing thing.

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Now, for those who believe manufacturer coupons are mostly for candy, crackers, soda and those dusty items no one ever buys--here are some of my best coupon + sales deals from this week:

Green Giant frozen vegetables: Regularly $2.19. I paid .67 cents

Fruplait 4 pk. yogurt: Regularly $3.29. I paid .50 cents.

Goya Low Sodium beans: Regularly $1.09. I paid .69 cents. (I bought 7 more.)

Birds Eye Voila; Regularly $4.99. I paid 1.99 for 1 and 2.14 for the other. (A whole meal in a bag... this old homemaker's dream!)

Oh, and not pictured--an Earthbound Farms organic salad box for .49 cents.

I also got 4 free Yoplait Simplait cups (got paid .80 cents for buying them, actually) and a free Good 'n Natural Bar.

Plus, because my store extended our time for earning gas points, Tom and I will save $1.30 off each gallon of gas when we fill the tank today. My personal record--yay! 

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