I forgot to post the link to the Life: Unmasked blog link-up today. What a great way to discover new blogs and be encouraged that we don’t need to wear masks; we can be real together.
P.S. Next week’s prayer devotional topic is Leadership, and this week’s reminder to “get real” is stirring some things in my heart that I look forward to sharing with you on Sunday.
One of the best roadtrip games of all time has to be Mad Libs. The boys have several Mad Libs flipbooks, and although they like to crank the gross factor off the charts as often as possible, I put up with it because I love the fact that my 1st graders are figuring out the difference between adjectives and adverbs!
They sometimes need help reading the finished story, but they love to fill in the blanks and take turns asking their brothers for words. Here are some of the most common:
You get the drift. They know that I don’t like gross humor, but I overheard this conversation recently in the car:
No. 3: “Give me an adjective.”
No. 5, whispering: “p-o-o-p”
No. 3: “That’s not an adjective! That’s a noun!”
No. 2: “Or, it could be a verb.”
Omigoodness, it’s hard not to laugh with/at them sometimes.
Have you ever caught yourself saying, “That’s not my job.”? Find a way today to turn that into, “Here, let me do that for you.”
I married someone who is very far on the introvert side of the personality scale, so compared to him, I probably seem like a solid extrovert. I’ve always gotten along pretty well with most people and build rapport rather easily with others, so I used to assume that I was an extrovert. The truth is, though, I actually score slightly toward the introvert side on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator inventory. (I’m an ISFJ, if that means anything to you.)
Realizing that I’m slightly “i” of center helps to explain a few things … like the fact that I work well with people but also enjoy working alone on projects … or the fact that I would rather write a long essay than do a group assignment for class. It also sheds light on why I enjoy socializing but am happy to leave when it’s time. Unlike an extrovert, I don’t get energized by being around people. I need my alone time, too.
With this grasp of my personality in mind, my current work situation presents an interesting — and challenging — scenario. Four months ago, two of the four people in my office were relocated to another part of the building. Six weeks ago, the third person also moved. That left me all alone in a four-office nook on a completely different floor from the most of my department (there is a call center next door with one colleague who often works nights when the student callers are on duty, so I seldom see him).
There are days when the quiet is nice. There are days when the solitude is maddening.
Think of a way to serve someone today. They don’t necessarily have to know; just surprise them with a gift of kindness!
Some old college friends got together for a mini-reunion this weekend, and it was nice spending time with them. Everyone’s kids got along well and spent a couple of hours playing together at a local park. We even got to catch a home football game — something I never really cared much about when I was in college, but it’s fun to cheer them on now.
There’s a lot to catch up on when you haven’t seen folks in a decade or two. I learned that a friend-of-a-friend (someone I didn’t know well but recognized his picture) died of a brain tumor after graduation. That news made me think of my brother and wonder if his 15- or 20-year high school reunion will mention his passing. He didn’t bother attending his 10-year; he was never a big fan of institutionalized education. (I chose that word on purpose, since he often compared school to prison, ha!)
As we got back into town and turned onto the main highway, I noticed that an intersection was closed off by several police cars with lights whirling, but what I didn’t know was that a colleague had perished in an accident there just a couple of hours prior. He leaves behind a wife and toddler daughter. I didn’t know him outside of the board on which he served as a steering committee member, and I just met his wife for the first time at the Condoleezza Rice event last week. I’d seen pictures of his daughter but now wish that I’d taken the time to get to know his whole family better.
I’m experiencing a grief relapse today.
It’s been nearly three years since Nathan died. I have a hard enough time wrapping my head around that fact, but the even sadder part is that so much grief has occurred even since then. I lost another colleague in a car accident, a family friend who was like my second mom, an uncle, a cousin, my boss’ son, a friend’s infant son, another friend’s miscarriage, a different friend’s miscarriage, a neighbor’s cancer diagnosis, a friend’s cancer diagnosis … even strangers who were close to my circles — like students and church members lost in accidents and illness — tugged at my heartstrings.
Today, I’m reminded of one of the first “long” passages of Scripture that I ever memorized. I learned it for a skit that my youth group performed for our church, but it has truly been written on my heart and has seen me through some devastating days. Following is the way Revelation 21: 1-4 sounds in my head, but here is the NIV version (I guess I tweaked a word or two over the years):
And then, I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, like a bride beautifully prepared for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Now the dwelling of God is with men. He will live with them; they will be his people, and God himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death, or mourning, or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.’
Come quickly, Lord Jesus.
Twisting branches weave,
Overlapping, entangled –
With lives as with trees.
This lovely tree caught my attention as I waited for the campus trolley and inspired today’s haiku.
Doesn’t it beg to be climbed?
Like Rehoboam, we’ve all had times when we’ve listened to wrong advice. Talk to God about who is influencing your life. Is it wise counsel?
Think back to an incident when someone did an act of service for you. Thank God for that person today, and if possible, thank them, too.
I got to the office a bit early one morning and went to the breakroom for coffee. I noticed that the person who usually unloads the dishwasher had not gotten around to it yet, so I started putting away the mugs and utensils. A colleague walked in and quipped, “You’ve got dish duty today, eh?” I wish I could tell you that my immediate reaction was one of genteel humility, but it was not. What I really wanted to say was something along the lines of, “Dish duty?! As far as totem poles go, buddy, I’m on the same level as you. So, why don’t you make yourself useful and load that dirty coffee mug that you just set in the sink for someone else to do?” Instead, I bit my tongue and faked a smile as I said, “Nope – just helping out.”
I’m constantly fighting similar battles at home: “That’s not mine;” “I didn’t put it there;” “Oh, I didn’t see it” [the fifteenth time he walked over it]; etc. Sometimes I think I live with the “Not Me” ghost from The Family Circus comic!
Whether it’s in the workplace, at home, in the church or elsewhere, why do we resist serving?
When a leader performs an act of service, it does not belittle them in the eyes of their subordinates. On the contrary, getting on their “level” for a change can actually boost morale and increase loyalty. Check out the unfortunate story of King Rehoboam in I Kings 12. Rehoboam’s father was the famous King Solomon, but the son did not seem to inherit the father’s widely acclaimed wisdom. When the commoners asked Rehoboam for an act of kindness, not only did he ignore the wise counsel of the elders in favor of his smart-aleck friends, but he also insulted his late father. (In verse 10, Rehoboam boasted that his pinkie finger was bigger than his father’s … well, let’s just say that one English translation is “loins” … and you can read between the lines.) Rehoboam came across as a braggadocios jerk, and his conceit led the people to rebel against him.
Let’s focus our prayer time this week on service.
faith, sweat & tears 