Now What?

Whew! I had a rough, rootin tootin day yesterday that drove me to near exhaustion! I'll tell you a little about it in a moment, but first, allow me to take care of the niceties. Good morning! Good morning! Yes, it is a good morning! Oh yes! Now, now, now, none of that. WHO gave you the breath to grumble about it being too early in the morning for all that? Uhm hum, that's what I thought. No, I'm not fussing, I'm just gently keeping it real, as the young folks say. That's it; tha-ats it. Ye-e-es, uhm hum, go get your coffee. (Tee  hee) I'll wait... Feel better now? Good!

(Uh, hold that thought. Household is stirring and I have to go throw some biscuits in the oven. Be right back, okay?...)

Thank you for being patient and waiting, especially since I got you stirring so early this morning. Now about my day yesterday. As you remember, I urged you to go to the spiritual gas station (worship service) and get refueled, right?  Well, it is a good thing that I did. Why, two reasons:

• Do you remember that I told you that I have a special daughter? Well, I do, if you didn't know or didn't remember. At any rate, several issues came up concerning her, that I had to deal with. I took care of that. 
• Then I learned that one of the newly restored members had an issue that deeply concerned her. This newly restored member has called me from time to time for encouragement and/or just to talk, okay? So you know that it was difficult for me to concentrate in worship, at first, without thoughts of  (as the old folks say) what was the matter.

So, after morning worship, we went to eat in a neighboring town, since that is where we were going for afternoon worship on this particular day. (We have a custom where we travel to neighboring towns to support small groups of worshipers every fourth Sunday.) So, during my meal, I pondered over what the newly restored member was going to tell me. (She had pulled me aside and told me that she needed to talk to me.) So we finished our meal and off to the meeting place we went.

As soon as I got there, got in, found one of my favorite seats, kicked my shoes off and was fanning from my slight exertion due to the heat, in walks the newly restored member. She made a beeline for me. I, who am a student of human nature, looked at her face and quietly asked, "Are you okay?" Immediately the tears welled up and she told me, "No."  I asked her quietly, if she wanted to talk about it. She told me yes so up I go to the lobby to have a quiet talk with her, I thought. Nope! That wouldn't do. She needed to talk to me outside. My first thought was, "Sure, no problem. My second thought was, "Outside? In this heat?"  But you know, me being me, what I did don't you? Yep, we went outside, in the heat, after I retrieved my shoes from under my bench from when I had kicked them off  earlier.

When we got outside, she imparted some news that knocked my socks off, so to speak. Usually, I can school my facial features so as to not register shock. Not this time!  As a former educator, I take to heart my duties as a teacher, leader's wife, etc. I had taken this lady under my wings and I felt like she  had been shoved under the bus for no reason. This was more than a storm in a teacup. I did what I could to repair the spiritual damage that had been done to her. She is still a very new work in progress. 

Now to my points for today:

1. Stay fueled up.
2. Stay prayed up.
3. Stay read up (read the Holy Writ).
4. Stay quietened up.

On point number 4, if you do not know something negative to be true, hush. If you do know something negative to be true, hush. If repeating it will not edify someone's walk with the Lord, hush. Treat the situation like it were yours and like you saw Jesus in attendance in every conversation you had about it. Let's show love for one another. If you want to talk about a supposed incident, talk to the party involved, quietly. That's the way you show tough love and care. Thank you for listening this morning and be blessed.
Me? I learned a long time ago, to do the four things I mentioned above and to always remember the presence of my Leaning Post and Who He is, for by doing that, I manage; I bloom; I thrive.

Doing What I Can, While I Can
Alma Jones

Aside: I was spiritually and mentally exhausted yesterday, but after I gave it all over to Him, I slept like a baby!