You know how you keep something for 20 years, almost never use it, and then finally decide to give or throw it away--and then the next week you truly need it?
Well, guess what?
I became a bit too ruthless in my great Book-Sorting-For-The-Big-Move-Someday and I gave away Ann Kiemel's book, It's Incredible. Inside that book there's something which 'changed my life' (according to some blogs, that's not possible, but well, you know what I mean).
It went something like this: Ann went to interview a 72-year-old woman, an artist, and found her doing some landscaping in her backyard. Lifting big rocks, to be exact. The woman told her that she loved to garden and when Ann asked her what was her favorite thing in Life, the woman replied, "Manure. Because everything grows so well in it."
And then Ann asked the woman what kinds of things she disliked, as in chores like washing dishes, vacuuming or making beds.
The elderly woman frowned. "Dislike? Whatever there is to be done--I like it!"
Oh my. I read that while a young mother in my 20's and wham! That one sentence stung me. Back then, I could have given you a yardstick-long list of all the things I disliked doing.
But after reading that one page in Ann's book? Immediately I wanted to be like that artist--not just when I reached my 70's, either--but starting immediately.
Be careful what you desire.
In the 20 years since that day, that one desire has taken me on a mighty long adventure of having to let God change my attitude about housework, errands and everything else known as 'work'.
Needing to stop complaining about them which only yanks me backward and also, learning to search and pull out every speck of Good in simple, daily things.
But it's been worth it. Since 90% of my life is made up of Everyday Stuff, I'm nearly to where I, also, can say, "Whatever there is to to be done-- I like it!"
Well, almost.
And I've found that, for me, there's no better, richer way to live.
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"So I saw that there is nothing better for a man than to enjoy his work..." ... Ecclesiastes 3:22
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There's something to be said for opposites attracting. As for me, I've always had hermit-like tendencies, whereas Tom's the type who wants to hop into the car and go, go, do, do.
And you know? Many times I've felt thankful that he talked me into getting out of the house for some fun.
That is, he was like that until these last two years. I think it began with his neck surgery, forcing him to remain home for six weeks.
He didn't mind it half as much as he thought he would.
Maybe because I babied him like crazy--even reading to him from some of the books I'd asked him to read for 15 years. (Turns out he loved and devoured each one. It was weird watching him read like that!).
But, uh-oh. Tom now exhibits hermit-like tendencies, himself. I'm thinking he finally succumbed to my hermit-itis.
Often, he wants to go out even less than I do and he almost seems satisfied to watch movie-life rather than live life in reality. Even our calendar reflects that. Too many squares appear like today's which says only: "Watch the final episode of Everybody Loves Raymond."
Hmm.
Oh, it's not the going-out that is so important--it's that other thing. That thing I've noticed in myself and my other 40-something (and older) friends. That thing which says--
We are tired.
We have paid our dues.
We attended all those endless concerts at our kids' schools when we thought, "If they sing just one more slow, screechy song, I'll...."
We went to all those eternal, droning meetings at church and school and at the office.
We're sick of traffic and the way people drive.
And we're just plain sick of people. People who aren't careful with their words, those who hurt our feelings or just bore us. Unkind, thoughtless, opinionated people.
And of course, that last one makes us feel the most guilty. As it should.
Oh, not that we're supposed to go around feeling guilty all the time (I've blogged about that). No, but we are to recall that we're here to care for other people. Next to ministering to God, comes ministering to--you guessed it--people.
Unkind, thoughtless, opinionated people. Just like each of us tend to be at times.
The kind of people who need God. The kind who stretch us and keep us from turning selfishly inward and who remind us that godly passion is not just for the young, but for those of us in our late-summer-early-autumn years, too.
It's too easy to become a hermit in these later years. It's easier to bow out of things when you're living inside the empty nest. We can come up with more excuses-- "It's not safe out there. I don't like to dress-up. I've done my time. I'm tired, I'm sick. I'm old."
But it feels too much like going downstream. Like giving-in, doing only what's easy and going with the flow of all (weary) mankind.
I think God had something better.
Maybe Tom and I need to make some changes. Changes which include turning this hermit-like boat around and paddling back upstream.
A whole lot of people are stuck and waiting for our help along the shoreline and if we're hurt while helping them? That's the chance God asks us to take.
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"The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway. Honesty and transparency make you vulnerable. Be honest and transparent anyway. What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway. People who really want help may attack you if you help them. Help anyway. Give the world the best you have and you may get hurt. Give the world your best anyway." ... Mother Teresa
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Speaking of magazines, Mary Jane's Farm arrived today! If you are a country gal/gent at heart and you love that 1940's feeling, you would love Mary Jane's Farm. Always I feel like I've ridden a time machine back to 1940's farm life after I lay down Mary Jane's magazine. The old-fashioned, homestyle photography is incredible, but you don't remember this magazine for the photos--it's the articles from Mary Jane and other farm-folks-at-heart which haunt you longest.
Here are a few of my favorite pages from the website, but holding her magazine in your hand is much more dreamy:
Mary Jane's Farm Articles
And to sum this up-- I've visited some blogs lately which tell us that, as Christians, we ought not to think about ourselves so much. Not about our failings, our successes, our sins, our weaknesses--not even grading ourselves as to how we are doing, etc. But from these blogs there's usually only one recommendation of what to think about, instead:
Think about God and good stuff.
Well, I don't know about you, but I need something a little more specific to go on than that.
I love specific and practical help best. If you, too, are like that, I thought you might appreciate this piece from this issue of Mary Jane's Farm. I believe it follows this Bible verse quite well:
"Be mindful (let your mind be full of ways) to be a blessing..." Galations 6:10
This below, from Mary Jane's Farm, will give your mind something delicious to munch upon:
"I had stayed up too late the night before. It looked like I was going to be late for work, but I pulled into the espresso stand anyway. I was in dire need of coffee. I ordered a regular with cream, 12-ounce. "Are you sure you don't want a 16-ounce?" asked the attendant. "It's free. The lady in front of you paid for it." I glanced ahead just as the woman pulled out into traffic. She was 50-ish; her blonde head was thrown back in a smile as she piloted her Buick Riviera into traffic. I smiled too.
"Well sure, I guess I might as well." When she handed me my coffee I handed her a three-dollar tip. I was suddenly in a really good mood.
I told my co-worker buddy, Charlie, about my free coffee. He smiled. "That's the phantom Riviera coffee lady. She's done that several times to me. I've thought about staking out the place when it opens, zooming in front of her and buying her coffee, but for now I just buy coffee for the person behind me."
Three bucks sure is an easy way to make someone's day......"
(Taken from a portion of an article written by Emil Butters in the latest issue of Mary Jane's Farm.)
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