A few years back, I volunteered on a weekly basis to deliver meals for our community’s Meals On Wheels program. The recipients of these meals were all elderly folks who were more or less considered “shut-ins” (terrible label). For the most part, the majority of the participants seemed eager for the brief company each delivery brought, as it was an opportunity to vent their woes and have contact with people.
Most of my “special friends”, as I liked to call them, were terribly grumpy. Yes, they had many reasons for unhappiness; illness, loneliness, physical limitations, loss of freedom. And even though I had some of my own life-circumstances happening at the same time and most certainly didn’t need to be around “grumblers”, there was something refreshing about the challenge of trying to make my friends laugh, or even smile.
Everyone but Fred. Fred didn’t need my help. From simple observations, I suspect that Fred had more reasons for unhappiness than any of the others. He was a widower trying to stay in his established home, he had severe hearing loss, had several illnesses, was just mobile enough to take care of basic functions (barely), and his hand was crippled and needed all of his food cut up for him – he couldn’t even open a milk carton by himself.
Fred was happy. No, Fred was silly, and it was delightful! Like clockwork, at 11:30, Fred would putter (in the slowest sense imaginable) to the door and crack it open, putter back into his kitchen and sit at the counter. He turned on the Price Is Right, cranked the volume WAY up and waited for me. The second I would shut my car door in his driveway, he would yell out in his booming voice, “It’s about time!, I’m starving in here!”, followed by a low, self pleasing “heh, heh, heh”. I loved it, it was like a game. I would yell an equally obnoxious comment back at him and we’d laugh. Unless I really probed, he never complained about anything. He found ways to turn a mundane schedule and terrible circumstances into reasons to laugh.
This short weekly visit contrasted many other parts of my life and made it seem all the richer. I do miss my visits. Looking back I know that he blessed me far more than I ever blessed him.
I want to be like Fred, don’t you?
Have you ever thrown a little paint onto a large surface? It’s a bit freeing, you should try it. Or, for the time being, you might enjoy this bit of digital silliness. It’s a good little outlet while you are on perpetual hold with someone like the cable company.
My sister sent me this fun link. If you are a Jackson Pollock fan, you’ll enjoy it. If you have no clue who that was, you’ll still enjoy it.
Have a wonderful weekend.
This one was made while waiting for a huge image to render on my computer.
Recently, a friend of mine on facebook encouraged her friends to look for opportunities to impact strangers with random acts of kindness and to share their experiences. Here’s a great one:
“One of my favorite things to do is pay for the person behind me at a toll booth. I love the randomness of it, and imagining the feeling the person gets when they pull up and the person tells them they’re covered. One time I had a car race to catch up to me, and it was this carload of ladies, frantically waving and smiling and mouthing “thank you!”
My friend’s efforts to prompt a frenzy of kindness inspired me to not only do just that, but to also pose a similar challenge to you. Make purposeful time this week to do unexpected, thoughtful deeds for complete strangers.
Take it a step further and inspire the rest of us by leaving a comment and sharing your stories/experiences, big or little!
U R G E N T ! The catastrophic wake that the earthquake in Haiti has left behind is simply horrific. If you have not already done so, please help in any way you can by donating to one of the following trusted disaster relief sources:
World Vision’s Haiti Quake Relief
GBIM partners with Convoy of Hope & ARC
Samaritan’s Purse Help for Haiti
Salvation Army: Text to Donate
American Red Cross / Haiti Relief
“Well what about helping those in America? Why should we send support to other countries?”… whether you say it out loud, or think it in your heart, you might consider this, especially In times of crisis… we should not help solely as “Americans” or any other categorized group you may represent. Rather, we should simply help as brothers and sisters in Christ, as part of a global community.
Every little bit really will make a difference.
–suzan
At this time each year we cannot help but reflect on the year that has past and ponder the one ahead. For you, perhaps 2009 brought joy, or success or exciting changes. Or it might have been a year full of challenges and hardships. Regardless of what is behind, let us look ahead into a new year with a posture of hope.
Have you ever gone into the forest in the spring and sat down amongst fiddlehead ferns and quietly watched and listened? It’s really quite something! When the morning light touches these amazing plants, you can actually hear them as they unfurl. The sound is unexpectedly beautiful and completely peaceful. Fiddlehead ferns remind me of HOPE. If we take the focus off of ourselves, and pause to marvel at nature, or to celebrate the success of another, or to joyfully encourage someone else, we will see that hope is all around us. Hope breeds joy.
Friends, as you step into a new year, I pray that you do so with abundant hope and faith in Jesus Christ. Hope can grow and thrive even in the bleakest of circumstances. No one can break your spirit and rob you of hope if you earnestly seek HIM.
I wish all of you a JOY-FILLED 2010!
A simple request:
Please help this guy reach his goal and make a difference just by going to…
merry-christmas-goodwill and leaving a comment.
Thanks!
We have all ‘over-listened’ to a favorite cd. After a while, you don’t even realize the words that you are singing along to. Today I popped in my Mandy Mann cd, which I have not heard in a while. And, although overall, this cd makes me happy in a folksy, hilly, windy road on a spring day sort of way, one simple song also made me think of a question we should all be asking ourselves, especially if you proclaim yourself as a believer of Christ… Are we REALLY walking what we are talking?
Gonna walk what I talk gonna do what I say
As long as today is today I’m gonna walk
Gonna walk what I talk put one foot in front the other
Before I get in trouble from the words that I say
Life is too short not to do what you say
Time has a way of stealing words from your mouth
And don’t it hurt when hope is not heard
You won’t walk what your heart wants to say.
I’m the one who said it so I guess I meant it
I know I’ll regret it if I don’t walk what I say
Gonna walk what I talk put one foot in front the other
Before I get in trouble from the words that I say….
Snow. It is definitely in my “top 10 very favorite things ever” list. I adore it. It creates serious HAPPY for me.
I love to see it, flop down and make an angel in it, eat it, sculpt it, drive in it (as long as there is no ice) and ski on it. Ask those who know me best and they’ll tell you that i get borderline obnoxious at the site of the season’s first snow.
So far, we have not received that first snow yet in our part of Pennsylvania…. not until WordPress, bless their cling2joy happy little hearts, created a seasonal “xtra” for their bloggers. Oh Joy!
Enjoy the virtual snow fall friends.
The Old English foundation of the word worry meant “to strangle, to choke”. It sounds dramatic, but that is really what we are doing to our mind, body and spirit when we entertain negative and anxious thoughts. It is 100% counter productive.
Think about the things you genuinely worry about and be honest… Are you trying to control your environment so that your happiness and pride are fulfilled?
Worry IS control. Simply, worrying is an attempt to control your world, knowing that you are NOT really in control at all.
Worry cannot change the past. It cannot control the future. It only makes you miserable today. The next time you find yourself wrought with the things you cannot change, I encourage you to step out in faith and turn that worry into prayer. And if you make it a habit, you’ll find that your perspective of your circumstances will radically change.
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. – Philippians 2:6-7
