Years ago, I had an acquaintance named Alice who made a big impression on me with one sentence. After explaining that she and her husband were parents to four kids of their own, plus raising the children of their drug-addicted siblings, all in a saltine-sized house, she stated calmly, "I love order, but I've learned to function in chaos."
This past week has felt like quicksand in a lot of ways. I'm having to deal with many things that are out of my control and, despite nearly 40 plus years in self-help groups, lack of control still makes me feel irritable and edgy. Oh, I'm wonderful if you're the one going through chaos; then I can be all sunshine and light, encouragement and reason. But, in the immortal words of Marcia Brady when reminded of her own philosophy about sucking up defeat and trying again, "This is different; this happened to me!"
Like Alice, my "fairy godmother," Anita, who lives down the street and bakes yummy things and utters delicious phrases of warmth and reassurance, is good for what ails me. Tonight, while chatting on the phone with her, I accomplished the mind-numbing job of adding phone numbers for several letters of the alphabet into my new cell phone. Yes, I know, this is a first world problem, but that doesn't make it any less frustrating. Did I mention I HATE having to redo things, especially after spending hours on the phone with the vendor, who promised it would be a cinch to import everything into the new device? That's one reason I hate the job of dusting (you're never actually finished, it always has to be done again) - but I digress.
Anyway, though she didn't realize I was multi-tasking, I know Anita would have heaped praise on me, had she known. She probably would have beamed and crowed something like the following: "My, that's wonderful! You're making progress! Little by little! Oh, and look at that drawer you cleaned out yesterday. That's one less thing you have to do. By the way, did you notice this corner of the table I cleared today? See, I'm making progress, too!"
That little lady sure knows what's what.
Another friend, Rosemary, upon hearing complaints about how Satan has been upsetting a lot of my plans lately, listened sympathetically before announcing, "That's enough about Satan. Let's talk about what God's doing!" After that loving reminder, she and the rest of our prayer group proceeded to spend the rest of our time reminding ourselves about the power we have as children of God, as opposed to the shenanigans of that wily serpent, who gets what's coming to him in the end anyway.
It's the serenity prayer all over again. We work with what we have, instead of whining about what we don't have.
While my prayer buddies and I were commiserating tonight, the Lord brought to mind another dear friend, Kass, who suffered with multiple sclerosis for decades. I watched her decline, but I also marveled at how she continually used whatever function she had left after each new setback to do for herself and others. For years, she clipped coupons out of the weekly ads and passed them along to me to save both of us money. She hadn't driven for years, but still remembered her way around better than any GPS; she used to delight in suggesting the simplest route I could take for unfamiliar sojourns. She refused to let others do for her what she was still capable of doing for herself.
I am humbled and enriched by having such undaunted people in my life. Gives me courage to take the next few steps on my own bumpy path.
This past week has felt like quicksand in a lot of ways. I'm having to deal with many things that are out of my control and, despite nearly 40 plus years in self-help groups, lack of control still makes me feel irritable and edgy. Oh, I'm wonderful if you're the one going through chaos; then I can be all sunshine and light, encouragement and reason. But, in the immortal words of Marcia Brady when reminded of her own philosophy about sucking up defeat and trying again, "This is different; this happened to me!"
Anyway, though she didn't realize I was multi-tasking, I know Anita would have heaped praise on me, had she known. She probably would have beamed and crowed something like the following: "My, that's wonderful! You're making progress! Little by little! Oh, and look at that drawer you cleaned out yesterday. That's one less thing you have to do. By the way, did you notice this corner of the table I cleared today? See, I'm making progress, too!"
That little lady sure knows what's what.
Another friend, Rosemary, upon hearing complaints about how Satan has been upsetting a lot of my plans lately, listened sympathetically before announcing, "That's enough about Satan. Let's talk about what God's doing!" After that loving reminder, she and the rest of our prayer group proceeded to spend the rest of our time reminding ourselves about the power we have as children of God, as opposed to the shenanigans of that wily serpent, who gets what's coming to him in the end anyway.
It's the serenity prayer all over again. We work with what we have, instead of whining about what we don't have.
While my prayer buddies and I were commiserating tonight, the Lord brought to mind another dear friend, Kass, who suffered with multiple sclerosis for decades. I watched her decline, but I also marveled at how she continually used whatever function she had left after each new setback to do for herself and others. For years, she clipped coupons out of the weekly ads and passed them along to me to save both of us money. She hadn't driven for years, but still remembered her way around better than any GPS; she used to delight in suggesting the simplest route I could take for unfamiliar sojourns. She refused to let others do for her what she was still capable of doing for herself.
I am humbled and enriched by having such undaunted people in my life. Gives me courage to take the next few steps on my own bumpy path.
"And in this matter I give my judgment: this benefits you, who a year ago started not only to do this work but also to desire to do it.
So now finish doing it as well, so that your readiness in desiring it may be matched by your completing it out of what you have.
For if the readiness is there, it is acceptable according to what a person has,
not according to what he does not have."
~ 2 Corinthians 8:10-12 ~
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