Right Lane Living

As the day progressed yesterday, I thought from time to time about blogging. Obviously, I did not get to it. I did not get to much. For a long time now, I have not gotten much sleep. I am physically exhausted. I drag myself through each day, sometimes getting little accomplished. When I do get things accomplished, it is often for someone else and not for me.

Yes, I know that I am usually positive and upbeat, and I make a point to enjoy life. However, I am entitled to not be "up" once in a while. Now is one of those times. In additional to being physically exhausted, I feel mentally weary. (They probably go hand-in-hand.) I feel like I am always going, encouraging, supporting, reaching out to others...but who is there to reach out to me and my family?

I know, I know. It is better to give than receive -- and I (we) believe that -- yet sometimes it is lonely feeling like no one cares back. I know, I know. Lots of people care. Blah, blah, blah.

Sometimes I miss the days of my youth. Neighbors looked out for one another, friends stopped by, people invited you to their place for dinner or to visit.

Growing up, we lived on a circle, and almost everyone on the entire street knew each other. The children played together. The parents knew the other children and their parents. It was a community. These days, though we know the neighbors directly around us, we do not know many beyond that. To those that we do know, we may wave in passing, if that. There is no community.

Growing up, we had friends. Friends would ring your doorbell and ask if you wanted to go outside and play. Friends would invite you to their home for dinner, to watch a movie, to play games, to just enjoy one another's company. These days, if you are blessed enough to even have any friends, they are often too busy. Life has gotten so rushed. People take on so much and are often scurrying to get to the next thing.

I think that I am going to coin the phrase "Right Lane Living." (Unless anyone beat me to it?) We need to get back into the slow lane, relax, see where we are now and not be in such a mad, tense hurry to get wherever we think we are going.

Why are we in such an hurry, after all? Is it really so important that you are two car lengths farther up the road that you need to cut someone off? Is it really so important that you arrive ninety seconds earlier that you need to run that red light, potentially putting your family and others in danger? Is it really so important that you say what you want to say that you cannot wait until the other person finishes their sentence? Is it really so important to get through your day that you you cannot pause to realize that you are not the only person in your day? Is anything really so important? (I mean, unless you drive an ambulance or a fire truck.)

Maybe you agree with me. Maybe you think that I am just whining. Either way is fine.

The Umbrellas and the Key

We headed south this past Friday evening to do a few things at the beach house. When we got around seventy miles down the road, we realized that we did not bring a KEY to the beach house.

For a few moments, my husband thought that I was kidding. I was not. I had forgotten the key.

I laughed. He got angry.

When we left home, I went back inside two times for things that we had forgotten. As I was leaving (for the third time), I told the house/pet sitter that we were leaving and that if we forgot anything else, it was our own problem. Ha-ha! Little did I know what I was saying.

You see, we always forget something. It is like there is a scientific law for us: The Law of Taking Trips. This time, tough, I realized that I forgot Boy's beach umbrellas. Bummer! Knowing that we forgot the beach umbrellas, though, we should have been safe.

WRONG.

Seemingly, the Law of Taking Trips was faulty. All of these years, knowing that we would always forget something, it turned out that we could, in fact, forget some things.

I phoned a friend of ours, who also happens to be the person who cleans the beach house. You know what that means, right? Yes! She has keys to the house. I got her voice mail and left a message.

For a short while longer, while driving down the highway, my husband was agitated and irritable. Then he turned on the right blinker and drove off of the next exit. When I asked him what he was doing, he said that there was no point to drive all the way down to the house without a key. I said, “We can stay at an hotel.” That did not go over well.

“Sure, because we are made of money!” Let me clarify this for those who do not know us. We have close to half a million hotel points. Money was not the issue because we did not have to spend money to get a hotel room.

Whatever words were said next, I do not remember, but Hubby got back onto the highway and continued driving south. A few minutes later, a different friend from down at the beach phoned. When I told him what happened, he immediately offered to let us stay at his and his wife's place. What a blessing it is to have such an hospitable friend.

After thanking our friend and assuring him that we would phone him if it came to that, I finished the telephone call and looked at my husband. “May I ask you to just choose not to be cranky and to see the humor in this and think of it as an adventure?”

I think that my husband, though frustrated, realized (after I pointed it out) that being angry or upset was not going to fix anything. It was not going to make the key suddenly appear. His jaw seemed to unclench, and he relaxed a bit. It was getting to be that calm and quiet time of the day when the sun sets, yet it is still light outside. I took off my sunglasses and opened the center console to put them away. When I looked into the console, I saw something buried in there which I then felt compelled to grab. It was another set of car keys.

We do not leave keys in that car. Duh. Somehow, though, this set had gotten left in the car. After a quick examination, we saw that this particular set of keys happened to have a key on it that we thought went to the beach house.

How funny is it that as soon as my husband let go of his frustration and made the decision to not be cranky about the situation, it was almost instantly resolved? Yes, when we arrived a few hours later we discovered that that key was for the house. (Thank the Lord!) At around midnight, we entered the house and were able to relax from our journey.

We know that God took care of us Friday night and showed use where there was a key that we needed. How interesting is it that the one time we forgot to bring the keys in the house and left them in the car, it turned out to be part of His plan? He knew that we would need them.

Now I am able to report that the Law of Taking Trips still holds its definition. Thankfully, the beach umbrellas really were all that we were missing, after all. Of course, under the hot, summer sun at the beach, those would really have come in handy.

Label Sphere Help

It came to my attention that not everyone knows what is the Label Sphere or why it is on my blog, so I am posting now to tell you. Isn't that nice of me?

On the right side of my blog there is a short paragraph about me. Under that there is a box where you can click to share the page of my blog where you are right now on Facebook (Share it now.) or on Twitter (You know you want to.). Under that is a Label Sphere.

I put the Label Sphere there to help people be able to find a specific post, or kind of post, more easily. When you scroll your cursor over the sphere, it will rotate. You can then click on whichever category you want to visit, and it should bring you to a page with only the posts from that category. As of today when I post this, the categories are:

a message -- sharing a message that I hope will speak to some
personal -- self-explanitory
personal plus -- a personal post with a bit of a message included
for fun -- fun posts, including Fun Fridays
testimony -- sharing of people's testimonies or stories
holidays -- posts on and about Holidays
contest -- announcing or related to contests

miscellaneous -- this post?

I hope that this has been helpful for those who did not know. 8^)

Good Morning, World!

Today is Sunday, and it is a beautiful day! No, I have not been outside yet. I know that it is a beautiful day simply because I decided that it is. Now put on a happy face, and make today the best that it can be. You know that you want to.

My Promise

There is a web site across which I stumbled this week that I want to share with you because it is a special kind of web site.

The web site lists a promise from God listed for each day.

For the fun of it, I decided to look up my birth date. The promise from God for March 5th was 1 Peter 2:9b, and it was a jaw dropper.

If you know me personally, or if you have been following my blog, you may know that I have been struggling with being lead to share my testimony. At first I was resistant. Then I finally felt comfortable sharing it with our Thursday small group and our pastor. Now I am ready to go out and tell the world.

There is another piece, though. It seems clear that my husband and I are intended to share our testimonies together. What a crazy and interesting story our lives have weaved together. I imagine that even the people who know us best would not believe it. It is beyond amazing to see how the Lord has worked in both of our lives individually and then in our life together that we hope that we can glorify Him with our collective testimony.

In case you are wondering what the Bible verse that was listed as God's promise for March 5th says, here it is.

God has brought you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Now you must tell all the wonderful things that he has done. - 1 Peter 2:9b

Pretty incredible, right?

You can check out www.365promises.com to see today's Bible verse or to see any date's verse. You can also pick up a Bible and open it and start reading. you never know what the Holy Spirit might show you.

Oh, and if you do not have a Bible, feel free to ask me for one.

Favorite Jokes

There was a mama tomato rolling through the garden with one of her little tomatoes behind her. The little tomato was dilly-dallying and was starting to lag behind, so the mama tomato turned around and bopped the little tomato on the head and said, "CATCHUP!"

Today is Fun Friday! This week, I think that it would be fun to share some things that make us smile, that make us laugh. When you comment below, please share your favorite joke. Actually, share any joke that you think is fun. Mind benders, word twisters, or just plain silly jokes are all welcome. Keep it rated PG is all I ask.

A frog hopped into a bank, hopped over to a loan officer's desk, and hopped up on the chair. "May I help you?" asked the woman behind the desk.

Seeing that her name was Patricia Whack, the frog replied, "Yes, Ms. Whack. I would like to apply for a loan."

Ms. Whack was a bit taken aback because there was a frog sitting at her desk asking for a loan. "Sir, may I ask your name, and what kind of collateral do you have?"

"My name is Reginald Jagger,and I have this for collateral," he replied as he put a small, pink, ceramic elephant on her desk.

Confused, the loan officer excused herself and told the frog that she would be right back. She went to her manager's office and said, "I am not sure what to do! There is a frog at my desk asking for a loan, and he gave me this little, pink, ceramic elephant as collateral."

The bank manager leaned over to look out his door so that he could see her desk, and then he abruptly sat up and said to her, "It's a knick-knack, Patty Whack, give the frog a loan. his old man's a Rolling Stone!"

Thankful on Thursday

Our Life Group played a game recently during which we had to quickly name things for which we are thankful. When one of my turns came, I said, "Blood."

A few people laughed at me and said, "Blood?!"

Okay, then "the blood." When referring to the blood of Christ, they accepted my answer. However, why not be grateful for blood? Blood is important to our bodies. Blood has:

• red blood cells, which carry oxygen throughout the body
• white blood cells, which fight infections
• platelets, which are cells that help you stop bleeding if you get a cut
• plasma, a yellowish liquid that carries nutrients, hormones, and proteins throughout the body

That is certainly something for which to be thankful in my book!

I am also thankful for drapes. Yes, drapes, not curtains. Yes, there is a difference. No, I am not a decorating fanatic. Drapes are functional. Honest, they are!

I do not get as much sleep as I would like at night. I can rarely sleep with daylight, and we have a lot of windows. If we were not able to close the drapes and darken our bedroom, I may not sleep much at all.

Also, I am grateful for oil. I know that these days, with the oil spill, and the damage happening with that, people are calling for boycotts and are committing to avoiding a certain company. However, this horrible accident withstanding, we depend on oil. I am not talking about the fact that it fuels our vehicles so that we can get from point A to point B and do what we need to do to live our lives. In fact, many people may not realize just how much we depend on oil.

Do you know those plastic hangers on which we hang our clothes? Made with oil. Do you know those clothes that you wear with the special wicking to try fast and help you stay cool? Made with oil. Do you know those disposable razors that you use to shave before you get dressed? Made with oil. Do you know those swing sets in which our children play? Made with oil. Do you know those photo albums where we put the photographs that we took of our children playing on swing sets? Made with oil. Do you know that mosquito spray that you put on your children after they have been playing outside on that swing set? Made with oil. Do you know that laptop on which people type to complain about a certain oil company? Made with oil.

Today I challenge you to take note of things for which you are thankful that you might not notice or consider every day. Appreciate the things that we may normally take for granted. Will you share with the rest of us three of those things? Maybe we can each see through one another's eyes to remember allof that with which we are blessed every day.