DSC01490_crop

The Bible Tells Me

I’m not the Bible scholar I should be. I know some verses; not as many as I ought. Still, I find most of my experiences can be framed or underscored, explained or illuminated, by Scripture. Or maybe a hymn or a worship song, a devotional or a testimony. Frequently, I have those “Oh, yeah” moments when I see God clearly in an event. Or realized that I should have seen Him.

These are the moments of “The Bible tells me.”

These essays reflect that. Do know that I can proof-text as well as anyone. I have a concordance, and I know how to use it. Well, truthfully, I do all of that online now, where I can quickly find a passage, see it in many versions, and choose the one I like best. I try not to be narrow, but instead broad, as I apply Bible words to my experiences. I know that your interpretations and understanding may be different than mine. But I also know that our God is big enough for all of us.

I have a friend who, in her prayer time, likes to tell jokes to God. “I know He knows the punch line,” she says. “But I tell them anyway. He likes it when I laugh.”

He likes it when I laugh. I’m going to hang on to that. It’s Biblical. The Bible tells me.

Our mouths were filled with laughter then,
and our tongues with shouts of joy.
Then they said among the nations,
“The Lord has done great things for them.”
The Lord had done great things for us;
we were joyful.

Psalm 126: 2,3 (HCSB)

Even Though It’s Followed by Beastly Hot Summer, I’m Still Pretty Fond of Spring

| Joy, Patience

Cue the music (Also Sprach Zarathurstra)! Something amazing is happening among the ferns!

Here is the explanatory text, in case you ‘d like to know how the music came to be written. The link above is the shorter part that you might recognize from the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. Or try this, the longer version, where you can watch the whole orchestra.

I have loved Hosta plants for years. I had a nice patch of them at our old house. They’re perennials, and would very reliably lose their leaves in the winter and come back up in the spring, growing and blooming nicely underneath a big, old pecan tree. When we moved, I thought the north side of the house would be perfect. Also growing there were wood ferns, which also lost their leaves with the first frost, but bounced right back again, pushing up their tiny, curled-up fronds when the weather warmed back up.

Here’s Peter, last spring, digging a hole for the new Hosta I had bought. There are two who came back from the previous year, one close to the toe of his boot, and one close to the heel.

So I bought and planted Hostas, with pretty limited success. I keep on trying.

I no longer purchase several Hosta plants each year. I usually get one, maybe two.

This year, I bought one new one, thinking this might be the last time I try (but, alas, I always forget about “one last time” each year when spring rears its delightful head). Then, I had Peter with me at a nursery, and we decided that I might should get another one.

Later that day, we were playing outside and I said, “Oh! Look here! One of the Hostas has come back!”

Several days later, YES!! Another one.

And, then, a third one. We had the coldest winter in several years, with temps of 12 and 13 degrees for a couple of days. And, still, they came back. And, I have two more, all ready to go into the ground. Maybe I shouldn’t try buying a variety of them. Possibly I should just keep adding the ones that seem hardier. Well, too late for that this year. Maybe next.

 

And why do you worry about clothes? Observe how the wildflowers of the field grow: They don’t labor or spin thread.  Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was adorned like one of these.

Matthew 6:28-29 (Christian Standard Bible)

 

And not only are they beautifully adorned, they smell and taste pretty good, too!

Easter

| Joy, Love, Peace

The more things change …

Several months ago, April took the job of Preschool Director at their church in Fort Worth, which means that traveling to Waco on weekends is pretty much off the table. After Peter spent his spring break with us, and I returned him to Fort Worth at the end of the week, I said to David, “If we want to do any Eastery things with Peter, then he’s going to have to come back here. Next weekend.”

I talked with Kevin, who at first said, “No, we really have some things going on this weekend,” but with some additional consideration (April had a paper due on Easter Sunday, in addition to other school-related work and church preparation), they said, “Yes, it will be a great idea for Peter to come to Waco again.”

After taking him to Fort Worth the previous Friday afternoon, I went back on Thursday and picked him up after school and we arrived in Waco in time to drive through Chick-fil-A and get David a nugget meal and Peter some Waffle Fries for their dinner in the snack room at the Mayborn Museum before their traditional late-night Thursday visit.

I’m sorry not to have a photo of Peter as everyone is cleaning up the cookout area and folding up the long tables to return to the church building. He joined the men who were carrying the folded-up tables to pickup trucks. As the tables went by, held up by an adult on each end, there’s a little pair of feet, walking along in the center of the table, helping out.

David drove him back to Fort Worth Sunday afternoon. I went home and had a nap.

A couple of days ago, I went to Target and was hoping to get some post-Easter deals, but no Easter stuff was on clearance. Oh, yeah. WE had Easter egg hunts and Easter basket treats last weekend. But not everybody else.

So now, I’m resetting myself. It’s Easter this Sunday. It feels a little like I’m celebrating twice. And, it’s time to listen to some music, don’t you think?

Royal Choral Society

Mormon Tabernacle Choir

Flash mob

Flash mob in German

 

 Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns! (New King James Version)

Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. (New Revised Standard Version)

Praise the Lord! Our Lord God All-Powerful now rules as king. (Contemporary English Version)

Revelation 19:6

The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever! (New King James Version)

The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah and he will reign forever and ever. (New Revised Standard Version)

Now the kingdom of this world belongs to our Lord and to his Chosen One! And he will rule forever and ever! (Contemporary English Version)

Revelation 11:15

KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS (New King James Version)

King of kings and Lord of lords (New Revised Standard Version)

KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS (Contemporary English Version)

Revelation 19:16

 

 

Now, there’s really nothing else to say, is there.

 

Holidays and Traditions

| Goodness, Joy, Love, Peace

Many families have all sorts of traditions that aren’t at all related to holidays. “First tooth comes out” traditions, “You’ve got your Drivers’ License” traditions, “You got a great report card” traditions. We’re always looking for a reason to celebrate, aren’t we.

And some of our most entrenched and precious traditions are built around the faith-based seasons and days in our family. For us, Christmas is loaded with them, and Easter isn’t too far behind. Dying eggs, hiding eggs, and finding eggs. New clothes, new shoes. In girl families, there might be new purses to go with the new shoes, new jewelry to compliment the new clothes, new lipstick, new eye shadow, and, well, that’s what it was like in my family when I was growing up. However, I grew up and had a boy family, which might mean a new shirt.

But I grew up with the traditional complete new outfit for Easter. We got up on Easter morning, looked for the eggs hidden in the living room, ate some chocolate, pretended to eat some reasonable breakfast, put on our new clothes, and went off to church.

And, in the next generation:

So, there should be some cookies baked, some eggs decorated, hidden, and found, there will be Worship in the Park on Sunday, and, possibly, at some point, a chocolate bunny will be involved.

 

This day belongs to the Lord!
    Let’s celebrate
    and be glad today

Psalm 118:24 (Contemporary English Version)

 

 

I’m glad to celebrate and be glad. Today, tomorrow, and all the other days.

 

 

In the Neighborhood

| Patience, Peace

I’m never quite ready for spring. I haven’t gotten enough time to wear my winter clothes. I rather like the darkening later afternoon (before TIME CHANGE rears its very ugly head). It just means that summer is right around the corner, and I’m not quite ready to turn on the Air Conditioner.

I imagine many people who live in Michigan feel the same way about fall. They’re just not finished with summer. They’re not quite ready to get out their parkas. They’re not looking forward to shoveling snow. And shoveling snow. And shoveling snow.

But, spring is bearing down on me. And, truly, it’s a little difficult to be unhappy when things are looking so interesting and lovely.

Around town:

In my own neighborhood:

I, the Lord, am the one
    who sends storm clouds
and showers of rain
    to make fields produce.
So when the crops need rain,
    you should pray to me.

Zechariah 10:1 (Contemporary English Version)

So, in my neighborhood, it’s spring. There’s lots to be grateful for. Very few plants died over the winter, even through the 12° and 13° nights. I’ve already done quite a bit of plant shopping. And I’m discussing my water needs with the Almighty.

As I was driving around the neighborhood, and beyond, looking for  pre-spring photos, I took this one, too. It’s in a backyard near our house. Because we live in my childhood home, I happen to know exactly what it is and when it went in. Lots of folks may not immediately put the October 1962 date in this context, but the thing is a bomb shelter, installed in November or December 1962, when we knew we weren’t going to all be blown to nuclear smithereens, at least not right then. I was 12 at the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis, and I can assure you that I HAVE NEVER BEEN SO SCARED IN MY WHOLE LIFE. It was like that panic of a near miss of a traffic accident, or when you can’t find your kid in a crowd for a few minutes. But it lasted for DAYS. A few years ago, I watched a PBS special about it, probably in 2012. I almost had to turn the television off, I felt the panic so strongly that I wept, even though I did know how things turned out.

If you’re too young to remember, or just need a refresher, you can read a short version or a longer version  or a much more detailed version.

Of course, as kids, we weren’t so traumatized by the whole thing that we couldn’t find the humor in the bomb shelter. We called it “Big John,” after a popular song at the time. And even now, every time I drive by it, I still hum “Big John.”

I’m pretty sure that the family that had it installed no longer lives there. Maybe several people have lived there since then. I would love to know what they’re doing with it these days. Maybe they refreshen the supplies every now and then. And, seriously, tornado season is approaching and they may feel smugly safe, knowing Big John is on the job.

All’s Well that Ends, Finally, Well

| Peace

Back in January, I talked about the microwave oven that needed to be replaced. Here’s how all that played out:

I did research with Consumer Reports to be able to make a good choice, and took that list to a store. They carried the brand that we’d chosen, but didn’t have white, which I wanted, because all the other appliances are white. (And I’m not at all in the market for replacing all the appliances in stainless steel or black, which are the current popular colors. Personally, I think white may always be available. Maybe not, but certainly for the rest of my life.)

So we ordered the style and brand we wanted; in white. “It will be delivered on February 3,” said the salesman. “Three weeks?” “Well, it has to come from the factory,” or something like that.

We returned home, and David went back to using the screwdriver to pry open the old microwave. And I went back to not using the microwave. By February 3rd, I had not heard from the store, and so I went over there, that Saturday morning, and went to the Appliance Department, with my sheaf of papers detailing our purchase.

“I haven’t heard anything about this microwave oven being delivered,” I said. “Hmmm,” said the Appliance Department guy, and punched numbers into his computer.

“Yes,” he said. “Your microwave will be delivered and installed today, between 10:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m.” It was 9:30 a.m.

“So, I should hurry on back home,” I said. He agreed. Back at home, I quickly removed all the canned goods and turntables from the cabinet above the microwave and put them in a couple of bins.

The delivery/installer guys came at 11:00. They carried in the big box and checked the number on the box with the number on my paper. All’s well. They opened up the box, took out the protective styrofoam, and began to pull the oven from the box.

 

“Stop,” I said. “Stop now and put it back in the box. I asked for white.” The microwave oven was black.

The young man in charge was dismayed. “I checked the number,” he said. “I checked it twice.” He checked it again. The number on my paper and the number on the box matched.

“Your salesman wrote down the wrong number,” he said. “That’s the wrong number on your order form.” He showed me the phone number of the store and said to call them and tell them what happened. Wrong number.

They packed up the oven and left.

I called the store. “It’s the right number,” the Appliance Department guy said. “The letters ‘WW’ after the number mean white. The kid just picked up the wrong box.”

I was skeptical, but the guy said that they would figure out the problem.

And they did. Turns out, the young man did not make a mistake. The manufacturer put the wrong oven in the box. The box said, “WW” (for white), but the oven in the box was “BB.” Black.

Someone from the company called me a couple of days later, explained what happened, and said they would indeed be sending me a nice, white microwave oven. They didn’t exactly say, but I rather assumed that, if it took 3 weeks for the wrong microwave to arrive, it would probably take 3 MORE weeks for the right microwave to arrive.

I was right. On February 21 (a few days’ shy of that three week date), I called the store. I explained that I was checking on a microwave oven’s arrival/delivery/installation date. I gave her the order number and explained what the problem had been. She said she would check, and a few moments later she said, “Yes, I see that the order went out yesterday-February 20.”

And I said, in a voice that could in no way be described as calm, “ARE YOU TELLING ME THAT THE PROBLEM OCCURRED ON FEBRUARY 3 AND THE ORDER HAS JUST GONE OUT YESTERDAY?”

“Let me check and be sure that I’m understanding what I’m seeing,” she said. Pretty quickly, she was back on the line and said, “Your microwave is scheduled to be delivered on Saturday, the 24th. We can’t give you a time yet, because we don’t exactly know how many appliances are being delivered and installed.”

“Thank you,” I said.

I stayed home on Saturday. All day. I never left the house. I didn’t even go outside. I stayed at home. In the house. All day. (You see where this is going, don’t you.) No new microwave oven came. No old microwave oven got carried away.

Sunday afternoon, I left on a planned trip to Dallas to visit a cousin. I came back Monday afternoon. I had some things to do Tuesday. And I checked the incoming phone numbers on the land line phone, and called numbers I didn’t recognize (podiatrist, retina doctor). No phone calls came in from the store. I checked the incoming calls on my cell phone. I had heard all of them come in and answered all of them. Nothing from the store.

Wednesday, I took my papers to the store. I went back to the Appliance Department and re-introduced myself to the guy there. “Yes, I remember,” he said. “Wrong color.”

“Yes,” I said. And I laid out the rest of the story.

“Hmmm,” he said, checking his computer. “Yes, I see right here,” he pointed to his computer. “We show that your oven was scheduled to be delivered on Saturday. But . . . there’s no record that a delivery was made.”
“No delivery was made,” I said. “And, as per your store’s information, I stayed home. All day. No one came.”

I went on. “And now I want to cancel this order and get my money refunded.”

“Can I get you something else,” he said.

“No.”

“Then I’ll take you to the front and we’ll get this taken care of.”

As we walked to the front, he apologized and I said that I was weary of waiting and that I had been almost seven weeks without a microwave. And he said, “Seven weeks without a microwave?!?!?!?”

And when I glared at him, he had the grace to look chagrined.

I did remind him that I knew the original problem had been the manufacturer’s. “But this last problem, that’s in the hands of your company.”

At the desk, while an employee was doing the work of creating the refund, the appliance guy said, “I’m going to send an e-mail to my supervisor.”

“Good idea,” I said.

I took my refund information, walked out to my car, drove to a different store, went in and walked to the Appliance Department. Someone showed up quickly and I said I was looking for a microwave oven, and I showed her the information from my previous search in Consumer Reports. (Not, of course, from the company we first ordered from. Not those guys. I was looking for one of the others we had identified.) The store had it. It was sitting in a box on a shelf. (We did check the indication of color, but I do understand now that we should always check the actual appliance.)

That employee needed to go and get someone else for writing up the purchase and getting the delivery and installation set up.

That was on a Wednesday. That Friday, I got a phone call from the people who do the installations. They said the microwave would be delivered the next Wednesday, between the hours of 11:00 and 12:00.

On Wednesday, the guy arrived at 11:20. He removed the old oven, installed the new one, carried the old one away, and completely cleaned up after himself.

So apparently, it’s not that hard.

 

Sleep a little. Doze a little.
    Fold your hands
    and twiddle your thumbs.
Suddenly, everything is gone,
    as though it had been taken
    by an armed robber.

Proverbs 6:10-11 (Contemporary English Version)

 

I know most folks work hard and try not to make mistakes. I think most employees want to do well for their employers and their customers. I’ve never worked in retail, but I’ve seen salespeople treated poorly, and I try to be kind. But I also think it’s a little unfair to a business not to let them know when customer service is poor. And I want to do business with stores that act as though they value my shopping with them.

Interesting Shopping at the Interesting Grocery Store

| Goodness, Joy, Patience

A while back, I mentioned the good African Black soap that I bought at a nice grocery store in Fort Worth. I’m frustrated sometimes when stores carry a product for a while, and then, I guess when it’s not popular with lots of shoppers, they stop selling it. So I was disappointed and frustrated a few months ago, when I went to buy another bottle of that soap and couldn’t find it on the shelf where I had seen it last. I searched and searched.

There wasn’t any store employee there, but I finally saw it, way up on the top shelf, right there where that empty space is. I looked around. No help. So I climbed up on that little step stool and reached up and pulled it down. The last bottle of the stuff! I was both excited and a little bit apprehensive. What if it was the last bottle they were ever going to have? What would I do when I used up all of this bottle?

When I took Peter back to Fort Worth, a couple of weeks ago, we did some shopping together. I looked again at this store, hoping that there would be another big bottle of this soap that smells so good, and, sure enough, in exactly the same place, there was one lone bottle. This time, there was an attendant, who asked if he could help.

“Yes,” I said, relieved. “I’d like the bottle of that African Black Soap up there.” He looked up to where I pointed. Then he leaned over and reached down the the lowermost shelf, where there were several bottles.

(If you look at the photo, you can see that, when I was there a few months ago, there were also a number of the bottles, on the bottom shelf, easily accessible to me and other shoppers. I just didn’t see them; I didn’t look in the right place.)

He picked up one of them and held it out to me. “I’m looking for the Citrus one,” I said.

He sighed a little sigh, leaned over again, and picked up a different bottle.

“This one says, ‘Peppermint,'” I said. “I like the one that’s ‘Citrus.'” (Actually it’s “Tangerine Citrus.” It smells fabulous!)

He leaned over again; I leaned over, and together we searched and found “Tangerine Citrus.”

“Thank you for helping me,” I said. “Now I know where to look for it next time.”

And it seems like a pretty good idea for me to always have the next bottle of it, waiting for me so that I’ve got some on hand, when the last drop of the previous bottle is used up.

Meanwhile, the last time I was in this section (healthy and healthful products) of the interesting grocery store, I saw this item, which was new to me.

I’m mystified why anyone would create a food product with the name “Soylent.” I can’t find the word in the online dictionary, but it is the name of a, um, “food” from the Science Fiction movie “Soylent Green” (1973). The only other reference I see online is this meal replacement beverage. I’m not going to give anything away, but, if you’re planning on trying out this Soylent meal drink, I very strongly suggest that you never watch the movie.

 

 

I have provided all kinds of fruit and grain for you to eat. And I have given the green plants as food for everything else that breathes. These will be food for animals, both wild and tame, and for birds.

Genesis 1:29-30 (Contemporary English Version )

 

I certainly do not object to the use of soy for food. I just think that the producers of food products for human beings might should find a better name, in addition to creating healthy food for people.

 

Busy Weekend

| Joy, Patience

Peter’s most recent weekend visit to Waco was a bit out-of-ordinary. David was out of town, and Thursday evening is usually Granddad-and-Peter time at the Mayborn Museum, which is open until 9:00 on Thursdays. I, apparently, am not as much fun at the Mayborn as David is, so Peter said he’d just wait until Saturday, when Granddad would be back.

We arrived in Waco last Thursday, late afternoon, and went straight to the library, instead. Peter’s developed an interest in the animated series Paw Patrol, and I had a couple of books and a video on hold. We got those, and well, as long as we’re here, can we get a Bob (the Builder) and, LOOK! A Chuck! Well-armed with entertainment, we stopped at H.E.B for rice and Texas Toast, and headed home.

Fridays are usually zoo days (I’m at least rather fun at the zoo). For breakfast, Peter thought he’d like pancakes. “Do you have a Millennium Falcon cookie cutter, Mimi? You could use it to make Star Wars pancakes.” “No, I don’t have that. But I do have  … ”

HOW NOT TO VISIT THE ZOO

When Peter and I arrived at the zoo, there were about six big yellow school buses, sitting along the curb. Lots of people were sitting at picnic tables outside the zoo. When we went in, there were many teen-agers getting prepared sack lunches.

We had our lunch and then went out to visit one of Peter’s favorite places, The Brazos River Country Fresh Water Aquarium, or, as Peter calls it: “Fish School.”

We like to pretend (or, he likes to pretend) that we are teaching each other about the important body parts and habits of the animals we see there. Most visits, we spend about half our time there. In the summer, it’s particularly nice, because it’s cool and damp and dark in there. In addition to fish, there are also exhibits with reptiles and amphibians.

While we were there, large groups of the out-of-town teens, along with their sponsors, came through. I finally got my phone out and pulled up the “timer” app. When the next group opened the door, I started the timer. Two-and-a-half minutes passed from the time the first kid came through the door until the last kid went out. Two-and-a-half minutes. And that’s not the total time that each individual kid was in that exhibit. That’s how long it took an entire group of thirty or so to completely enter and then exit the space. The first kid was walking out at about the same time the last kid was walking in. Not the way to visit a zoo. Or a museum. Or an exhibit, anywhere.

 

 If you plan and work hard,
    you will have plenty;
    if you get in a hurry,
    you will end up poor.

Proverbs 21:5 (Contemporary English Version)

Taking time to learn usually results in information retained. Hurrying through it often means you haven’t learned a thing, whatever content has been presented to you.

“Never judge a book by its movie.” –J.W. Eagan*

| Patience, Peace

Many, m-a-n-y, many years ago, I was visiting my sister while they were living in San Angelo, when their kids were all preschoolers. We’d left the kids, including my school-ager Jeremy, at home with my brother-in-law, and were out running errands. At one point, she was going to hurry into someplace, and asked if I wanted to come, too, or just stay in the car. I glanced around the car and saw a mom’s magazine that I could read while she popped in and out. “I’ll stay here,” I said, picking up the periodical.

When she came back, she said, “I always keep a couple of things in the car to read. In case I have to wait somewhere.”

“Me, too,” I agreed.

“So,” I went on, “apparently our greatest fear, based on our behavior, is being stuck somewhere, with nothing to read.”

“Oh, yes,” she said.

I appreciate the physicians’ offices with magazines. Well, interesting magazines, except I rarely make visits there without a book. At the retina place, for example: first, there’s the stay in the waiting room, until I go to get my eyes dilated and my vision and my eye pressure checked. Then, back to the waiting room. Then, into the little room for retina scans. Then, maybe back to the waiting room, or straight to an examining room. Then, waiting there for the retina specialist, who then, after looking at the scans, numbs my eye(s). More waiting, in the examining room. Then, eye procedure. Then, I’m done. I need something to read during all that.

I see lots of physicians. There’s quite a bit of waiting. And you just can’t guarantee what sorts of reading material are going to be there. And, really, if I start reading a magazine article, I could take it to the examining room, but I’m pretty sure they’d be unhappy with me if I took it home to finish what I was reading. Otherwise, I’d have to go to some store and try to purchase my own copy, but what if it was from three months ago? I could try the library. But really, it’s just easier if I take my own reading materials.

I do have a couple of books on my phone, but I don’t like that so much. The amount of words that appear on a phone screen is pretty limited, and it’s just swipe, swipe, swipe. Of course, there are Kindles and e-readers now, and tablets, which make things easier.

Still, I guess I’m just an old-fashioned reader. There’s something about the feel and smell of a book. The paper? The ink? The weight? Or the cute/attractive/interesting bookmark?

 

Everything on earth has its own time and its own season.
There is a time for birth and death, planting and reaping,
for killing and healing, destroying and building,
for crying and laughing, weeping and dancing,
 for throwing stones and gathering stones, embracing and parting.
There is a time for finding and losing, keeping and giving,
for tearing and sewing, listening and speaking.
There is also a time for love and hate, for war and peace.

 Ecclesiastes 3:1-18 (Contemporary English Version)

  

And, I suppose, a time for listening, for reading, for learning, for teaching, and all those things we do to become the people God has planned for us to be.
Meanwhile, in the planting and reaping area, look what I saw Wednesday, in the side yard.

*As far as I can tell, J. W. Eagan is famous for the quote, and nothing else.

Angels Unawares*

| Kindness, Love

A stranger was kind to me a couple of days ago. I thought it might make a blog post, and I thought of the quote “I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.”

I looked up that quote, to be able to attribute it correctly. I put “kindness quotes” in the search engine, and got a page of poster-like things containing various quotes written in cute scripts and fonts, all attractively portrayed. The quote I was searching for appeared several times. It’s by Tennessee Williams from the play A Streetcar Named Desire, spoken by the character Blanche DuBois. When I looked for the context of the comment, I decided it wasn’t what I was looking for.

I found this: “You cannot imagine the kindness I’ve received at the hands of perfect strangers.” Somerset Maugham. This quote is from the novel The Narrow Room, and I can only find the briefest blurb about it, so, with no real context, I’m not sure it’s what I’m wanting, either.

I kept on looking at the quotes, which seem to be basically screen shots of posters. I found a couple I liked:

“The unexpected kindness of strangers when you’re having a stressful day just makes everything easier.” Lacey Chabert (actress, voice actress)

“At this point, the only reliable resource is the kindness of friends and strangers.” Robert Hayes (actor in such productions as Airplane and Sharknado 2)

“If you rely on the kindness of strangers, be prepared one day to pay them back.” Linda Poindexter

I’m unfamiliar with Linda Poindexter, and when I searched for her, I found that there are several ladies who share that same name. I think she’s the one who was an Episcopal priest.

I also like this non-stranger-related quote from her:

“If one drop of rain can find its way to the ocean, then one prayer can find its way to God.” Linda Poindexter

But, on to the stranger issue. I’ve mentioned before about how I occasionally embarrass Jeremy in New York by trying to chat (in a friendly way) with people in the grocery store, the way I do in Waco, Texas. Earlier this week, I said, “Oh, excuse me” a couple of times, when I rounded a corner from one aisle to another, and came cart-to-cart with another shopper. We smiled at each other and went on. Someone barrelled out in front of me and said, “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t see you.” And we smiled at each other. We just interact more, and in friendly ways, here in the Lone Star State, even though we are pretty much strangers to each other.

Which brings me to the kind stranger I met earlier this week. I was heading into church Wednesday morning, to help clean out a supply room. The wind was howling and I was shivering as I walked across the parking lot. I did have on a dress and extra shirt, a sweater, and a jacket (all buttoned up to my chin). A few people were walking in, too–leaders for the community college-staffed English and GED classes that we provide space for, Monday-Thursday mornings.

My heavy knit jacket–
I replaced the buttons recently. The button holes had stretched a little bit, and the buttons kept popping out.

The back of my jacket–
This is how the tie belt was tied when I bought the jacket, and how it usually stays.

A woman was walking a few feet ahead of me, and as we walked into the building, we were commenting on the chilly, blustery day. There are two sets of doors at the entrance, and as I walked through the second one, I realized there was another lady behind me. “Oh, exucse me,” I said. “I didn’t see you there.” We smiled at each other and walked on in. A few feet further, there are a couple of steps up into the main hallway.

“Oh, wait! Wait!” She said. I stopped and turned around, but she went on toward my back. Her arms were full of her teaching supplies, but, one-handed, she untied the fabric belt at the back of my jacket. She reached around and pulled one end of the belt and the other around my waist.

“Tie it,” she said. And then smiled in satisfaction when I’d had it snugly around my waist. “It’s warmer now,” she said. And I said, “Thanks.”

She went happily along to her classroom, and for the rest of the day, I made sure my belt was tied when I was out in the wind.

Maybe in Brooklyn, or other places, someone might have said, “Mind your own business!” Maybe in Brooklyn, she’d never have been so bold. And while I was a little startled, I took it in what I’m imagining was a loving concern. A kindness from a stranger.

 

Don’t neglect to show hospitality, for by doing this some have welcomed angels as guests without knowing it.

Hebrews 13:2 (Christian Standard Bible)

One of the poster screen shots had the “I’ve always depended on the kindness of strangers” quote, but attributed it to W.E.B. Dubois. Hmmmm. No, I didn’t think so. I looked up Mr. Dubois and found several quotes (none, however, related to strangers). I liked these:

“Children learn more from what you are than what you teach.”

“The most important thing to remember is this: To be ready at any moment to give up what you are for what you might become.” W.E.B. Dubois, PhD.

* The King James Version translation of Hebrews 13:2 says: “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” When I was growing up, I always thought that “unawares” was a word that modified the noun “angels,” instead of the verb “entertained.” I didn’t really know what “angels unawares” were, but it sounded lovely.

 

Maybe Next Year I’ll Remember

| Patience

I keep making the same mistake, every year, when the weather gets really cold. I sort of remembered a funny quote about that (the mistakes, not the cold), but when I tried to look up “funny quotes about mistakes,” I had a harder time than I thought I would, finding what I wanted. Most sites had two or three amusing quotes, followed by serious quotes about how “making a wrong decision the first time is a mistake, the second time, it’s a choice,” and that sort of thing. I found a few that resonate with me.

Never say, “oops.” Always say, “Ah, interesting.” –Anon

Experience enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again.–Franklin P. Jones

To err is human, but when the eraser wears out ahead of the pencil, you’re overdoing it.–Josh Jenkins

These two are my favorites, and, sadly, are unattributed. Maybe they’re also by our friend “Anon.”

I never make the same mistake twice. I make it five or six times, you know, just to be sure.

I have been repeating the same mistakes in life for so long now I may as well call them traditions.

My most recent cold-weather “tradition” goes like this:

The first year, I really was surprised when it happened.

I worked quite a while, and perfected this arrangement after a few summers. I got this four-spigot faucet adapter. It screws onto the back-of-the-house outdoor faucet. Each little spigot has it’s own on/off switch: little black knob vertical means it’s open, little black knob horizontal means it’s closed. That round, yellow and green thing is a timer. That switch stays open all the time. When I turn the timer to a specific amount of time, the timer lets the water flow. The hose at the other side of the timer winds from the faucet to the top of the back steps, down across the back patio, and into a cute little ladybug sprinkler in the herb garden. The sprinkler system doesn’t hit there, so I can easily get those herbs watered during the hot summer months. The next little spigot used to have one of those coiled hoses, and I kept it open all the time, because it had a spray nozzle on the end. When I wasn’t spraying water on the patio plants, that nozzle kept water from leaking out. The next little spigot (with the orange-ended hose screwed on) stayed off most of the time. It has one of those expanding hoses that grows and grows and grows when the water’s turned on. When the water’s turned off, I spray the rest of the water out and the hose shrinks and shrinks to its original size, and I curl it up in a big basket by the faucet. So, I open and close that knob when I need it. The fourth spigot is empty; I don’t need it.

A few years ago, I went out to the back yard, after a little spell of really cold weather, and discovered water gushing from the back faucet. The freezing temperatures had caused the water, however small amount there was in those little spigot ends, to freeze and expand, and, ka-bam, it blew that faucet adapter right off. It also busted open the timer. And the sprayer on the coiled hose. So, hmm. Those things had to be replaced.

And the next year, I’d completely forgotten what had happened the previous winter, and everything blew apart again. The next year, I did remember, and turned all the little knobs, so there wasn’t any water in those hoses. But I neglected to turn off the water faucet itself. So, the four-spigot adapter again broke and popped off.

So this year, when the weather forecast said “BRRRRRRR. Really Cold!” I thought, “Oh, I need to go out and turn the water off. And maybe take the adapter off, too.”

You may have heard or read about The Doorway Effect, that when we walk through a doorway, we often forget what we’d been thinking about, as we enter a different room. Sad to say, after I thought about the freezing weather and the faucet, I walked through a door. Several doors, actually. So, a couple of days later, I was taking the trash out, and I walked around through the back yard instead of through the garage in the front, as I usually do. (It was still pretty cold, and that’s a little bit shorter walk.) I heard water gushing. The main faucet was blasting away, and the organized watering apparatus was, as you can see in the photo above, lying, broken, on the grass. I turned off the water and sighed. Oh, dear, not again.

I did unscrew the coiled hose a couple of days later, and screwed it onto the main faucet. When I turned the water on, about five spouts of water came springing out of the coils, to the degree that, when I squeezed the trigger of the sprayer, not one drop came out.

So, here we are again. I bought a new coiled hose. But, I’ll have to replace the four-spigot adapter and almost surely the timer. I guess I won’t positively know until I can get everything all put together again. But previous experience tells me that it’s not going to be working.

 My enemies, don’t be glad
    because of my troubles!
I may have fallen,
    but I will get up;
I may be sitting in the dark,
    but the Lord is my light.

Micah 7:8 (Contemporary English Version (CEV)

 

The challenge is that I really can’t shut everything down at the beginning of winter and wait until spring. Several of the patio plants don’t go dormant or die back. They still need to be watered; we’ve had some drizzly days, but not much really serious rainfall. Several things need to be watered. Regularly.

We’ve fallen, but we will get up! Even if it takes a little sitting in the dark. And, EEK (in a good way)!  In the side yard, I saw daffodil leaves, and stems with buds. It’s not that I want spring to hurry up. Spring is just followed by a beastly summer, which lasts until October. But it is hard to not feel a little anticipation when daffodils are about to make their move.