A lesson in Humility on New Years Eve

Yesterday, was a pretty awful day.  One of those days that everything was just "off", you know?  Have you had one lately?   But that is completely beside the point now.

Today started differently,  quietly, peacefully, only one minor crisis before church.  That taken care of and I was only 15 minutes late.  What a wonderful time we had in Bible Study,  Church service and sermon were wonderful and thought provoking.  A trip to Walmart was next that proved a little Iffy, if you know what I mean.  Next, a quick trip to Las Cruces to deliver something that belonged to someone else, a quick stop at my aunt and uncles house to wish them Happy New Year and the road home for the evening.

Not that any of this really matters to the important part of my story, but here it is..... We decided that French toast sounded pretty wonderful so IHop it was.  Dinner started out by ordering brioche French toast that they were out of, and having to go check and see if they still had any of the cheesecake stuffed French Toast left as their new promotion starts tomorrow.  Our waiter came back, told me I could get my order of the cheesecake and that they could make the bananas foster French toast out of regular French toast.... Life was good again.  Then he came back again and told us that the Owner had found some brioche so the other two were getting their first order as well.  Our food came, we ate, it was good.....
THEN.........A young man who was sitting alone stood up and came over to our table.  He asked if we were out for the New Year and were we doing anything else this evening or was "this" it.  We assured him that from here we were calling it a night and going home.  He then begins to tell us that he wants to end his year on a good note and do something nice.  He wanted to know if it would be all right with us if he paid for our dinner.  Stop action..........


What do you do in a moment like that?  How do you respond?  We were perfectly capable of paying for our own meal.  He is obviously an airman sitting alone on a holiday evening, shouldn't WE be paying for HIS meal?   Is he up for adoption?  But then, a little voice somewhere says, he wants to do this.  Don't take his blessing away from him.  Ok, I wont, but looking up at this young man and telling him we would be honored if he paid for our meal was probably one of the harder things I have done lately.  It some how took a whole LOT of humility to say what I said.   I knew it was the right thing to do but wow..... After we got in the car and were on our way home, and we were talking about it, we all three agreed that having never had something like that happen before none of us were sure how to react in the moment.

Start action.........
Before we got home, I can tell you that I shed a few quiet tears over the whole episode.

So with this story being told, How do I see the end of 2017?  A lesson in blessing others through small acts.  A lesson in humility to give someone else the opportunity to be a blessing and receive a blessing... A lesson in taking a moment to see the world around you in a different way if just for a moment.

So how will I start out 2018?  Looking for the moment God wants to use ME to pay that small act of kindness forward as I promised that young man I would.  Looking for the moment that someone else might be able to see God IN me.  In 2018, may there be less of ME in the way so that there can be more of GOD!!!!!!

I really dont have a good title at the moment but here goes

Something has been rattling around in the back of my head for a while now.  Thanks to a late night sermon, some deep thought on the subject, the words of an old friend that I have totally lost touch with and wish I knew where she was and some more words of "My Dear Ole Daddy'  I think I can express it now.  Topic:  Feeling Sorry For Myself.  Side bar ( It needs to be understood that either my dad gave me a great compass to steer through the shoals of life, or he really messed me up, it depends on who you talk to)

Someone said something to me a while ago , “Everyone has pity parties from time to time so its ok, isn’t it?”  My immediate reaction was *I DON’T* I don’t ever get the chance because yeah, there is always someone around me having one that I have to carry their back pack while they do.

 My response to that question has really bothered me but I couldn’t put my finger on why.  Well, Other than the obvious, well THERE is a pity party right now… even if you kept it in your own head. 

Then this morning as I stood over a sink full of dirty dishes that I didn’t create, it came to me. 

Sure, I guess I do have periods of time that I feel sorry for myself, like this past week or so when I have had to maneuver all of life with my foot in this stupid boot with people giving me the helpful advise of just take care of YOU…….and all I could think was I AM taking care of myself, but at a time like this shouldn’t someone ELSE be taking care of me?  Hummmm pity party alert……..(and the truth is, that if I really look around, just because it isn’t what I WANT at the moment, or the WAY I want it, doesn’t mean people aren’t doing what they think is best to take care of me)  WHAT?  Could the answer be, ITS NOT ABOUT ME?  

Then this morning it came to me, I could hear his voice as plain as day,  the words of my father.  “You know, when you are having trouble, the truth is, 90% of those around you honestly don’t really CARE..and the other 10% are GLAD you are having problems, so you might as well just shut up, try to smile and  put one foot in front of the other and keep on going.”

Which brought me to the late night sermon:  Want to live drama free?

His main point I believe was:  This life is NOT ABOUT YOU!!!!!   If you want to BE important, find something important to do, and do it, and keep doing it then you will BECOME important and you will encounter OTHER important people, doing important things. 

Which brings me to the words of an old friend (Linda Cruz, I still love and miss you) where ever you are…….I hear the mother ship finally called you home!!!!!   If you are feeling down, find someone who needs something, and do something for that person, in secret if you can.  Then you cannot boast to anyone about how good YOU are for helping that person. Because you know what?  This life is NOT ABOUT YOU!!!!!  And every time I have found myself in that position and I found a way to play “silent benefactor” I realized her words were true and wise.

And the last part of this thought:  What we used to refer to as “the Golden Rule” says Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.  It doesn’t say Tell others how you want them to do unto you, and then complain until they do it the way you want it done.  It doesn’t say, Don’t do anything for anyone else until they are doing unto you the way you see fit.  It doesn’t say Do unto others BEFORE they do unto you and then get yours and run….. it doesn’t even say Stare at others until they understand that you have things that are not being taken care of and they should KNOW that they are responsible for your happiness and then when YOU are happy, you might consider doing something for them, well if you don’t forget cause you know, you are happy now and moving on to the next thing in your life.  It SAYS TREAT Other People and DO FOR PEOPLE like you WISH people would treat you and would do for you. End of sentence, ITS NOT ABOUT YOU, its about serving others here. 

The answer then is, I DO have periods of time that I'm down, I feel "put upon and walked over in the search of something/someone more exciting and fun, drug through a knot hole backwards (what ever THAT old statement really means) and just really out of sorts and feeling sorry that the people I care about don't notice what "sacrifices" I have made for them to be happy, healthy and get what they want out of life and they in turn reciprocate to make one of my few and far between dreams closer to reality.  But my deep down EVERY day hope REALLY IS that no one knows I feel that way in that moment, because it really IS just a moment in time and tomorrow I would really hate to have hurt them by making them feel that just being in my life wasn't enough.  That I hold anyone else responsible for my happiness and contentment in life. That any of this life is about ME. 

So here I am, Silent Sunday morning…. With only the noise of my constant companions chewing on bones, I march on… bare foot, BOOT FOOT, bare foot, BOOT FOOT, bare foot, BOOT FOOT through the day to care for the needs of those I see around me in returning peace and contentment or at least pretended peace and contentment until the real thing shows up.  The dishes are done, the laundry is started, I have had my first cup of coffee while I wrote this and am off for another.  Now I will take a few minutes to sit in my yummy smelling “bat cave” read a little while I drink cup two of the first of several pots today figure out what my next task for the day will be.