The other day my daughter Jillian and her husband Andy needed me to help wire some money to them.  Their bank is here in Michigan but they live on St. Kitts in the Caribbean.  After some running around to a bank or two and checking with the local Western Union location, I finally had the money on its way.  All Andy had to do was go to the local Western Union location on the island, give his name, his identification, and supply them with the special number I was given to share only with them to prove the funds were for them.  Well somehow on the Western Union paperwork, his last name got repeated so that it said “Andrew Vander Yacht Vander Yacht”.  We didn’t think it would be any problem.  Wrong!  The Western Union person would absolutely positively not release money to Andy because the names did not match.  Really?  Like someone was trying to pose as Andy and had the right ID and numbers but that double last name just rained suspicion down on everything.  <sigh>  After some phone calls and adjustments by Western Union to remove the doubled last name, Andy finally proved his identity and was given his money.  Finally.  I mean it WAS his money from the get-go.  Talk about jumping through hoops to get it in your hands.

Today my mother went to the pharmacy to pick up a prescription.  “Oh no, you picked it up last night” the woman at the pharmacy counter stated.  My mother firmly told them that she most certainly was not out in the dark last night picking up a prescription.  “Yes you were” they insisted.  They even pulled up the signature she had signed to prove it.  Wrong.  My mother said “That is not my signature” and made them pull up one of her signatures from a previous order.  Sure enough, they did not match.  But the pharmacy people still argued with her.  Finally the pharmacist showed up and agreed that there must have been a mix-up and gave my mom her bottle of pills.

So what do we have to do to prove to people who we really are???

For Jill and Andy, I guess it’s good to know that Western Union is very careful and specific to be sure they are not handing out someone’s money to just everybody.  And for my mom’s little issue, the pharmacy later explained what happened and got things straightened out (although they owe an apology to my mom for their rudeness to an eighty-some year old).

Isn’t it good to know that God knows us and would never ever mix us up with someone else.  In Luke 12 verse 6 we read that even “the hairs of your head are all counted. Do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.”  In this world of identity theft, it is sad to think of how safe and secure we must be and yet people can still hack into our private financial information.  Thank goodness I won’t be having any identity crisis with God!

Just Laurel

The weather is finally turning towards spring here in Michigan.  It’s been cold for so long and all a person has wanted to do is dress warm, eat fattening foods, and curl up with toasty socks and a big blanket.  As warmer weather teases, there are inclinations for pant hems to shorten to Capri length and then to shorts.  Ditch the socks and boots and grab your sandals.  And … uh oh … is that my bathing suit peeking out from underneath my work-out clothes in the bottom dresser drawer?  Yeah.  The other inclination the warm weather brings is to shape up, lose weight, and get ready for bathing suit weather.

I actually have been exercising some over the past weeks … here and there … off and on.  I’ve been walking (and mixing it up with some running) and some exercise DVD’s that are work-outs with weights.  I love working out with weights – especially my arms.  After ‘pumping some iron’ this morning my arms were actually shaking from the last set of reps I had done.  And then the house phone rang.  The house phone is cordless and about the size of a small dumbbell.  I grabbed the ringing phone and it felt weightless to me.  At first I thought that perhaps Ted had taken the weighty battery pack out of it, but then I realized that it was a result of my weight work-out.  It made me think about people who are totally serious about their weight work-outs.  With muscles that have been trained and strengthened, any heavy lifting job becomes featherweight.  The body has been primed and prepared to handle heavy loads easily and effortlessly.

The bible tells us to exercise.  Hebrews 12:12 states, “Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees.”  Ha!   Yes it does!  So get off the couch you lazy sinner and get down on that floor and do fifty push-ups!  Yeah, I can’t do fifty push-ups either and, of course, the bible is speaking to believers to be strengthened in their faith.  Embrace your faith and stand with conviction!

In Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians, the first book, chapter 3, verse 2, Paul writes “We sent Timothy … to strengthen and encourage you in your faith.”  Interesting footnote on that verse says that in regards to the word strengthen – in Greek Classical literature the word was generally used in the literal sense of putting a buttress on a building.  In the New Testament it is mainly used figuratively, as it is here.  For those of you wondering – a buttress is:  an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall.  Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient buildings, as a means of providing support to act against the lateral (sideways) forces arising out of the roof structures that lack adequate bracing.

So – How are YOU buttressing your faith?  I mean if you want to say you are strong in your faith, what exercises are you doing to encourage strength and support?  Just like our physical muscles need strengthening so we can carry the heavy load, will your faith be able to stand when it is challenged?  Will you be hovering on weak knees?  Oh, I need to exercise this area of my life, too!  It’s as simple as letting the church be your school and the bible your textbook.  Hanging with fellow believers/students helps too.  Colossians 1:9-14 is a good read for those who want to look it up, but it basically says this:  We pray for fellow believers so that they might … “be strengthened with all power … so that you may have great endurance and patience…”

It’s time to exercise fellow readers!  Bathing suit weather is calling so get your butt moving.  And buttress your faith while you’re at it too!

just Laurel

When our three daughters were young children, we were fairly strict with disciplining.  We didn’t mess with ‘time-out’ nonsense or banishing children to their rooms, we simply corrected them when they were caught doing something wrong.  And we were fairly clear on what good behavior was and what was wrong.  They knew right from wrong.  And they knew that both mom and dad were boss.  If one daughter was misbehaving, all Ted had to do was say their name.  “Kristen!” Ted would say in a firm voice, and said daughter would dissolve into tears aware of her indiscretion.

A few days ago at work, we had a little problem.  Any patient that is a diabetic gets their blood sugar checked by one of the nurses.  It is not safe to operate on someone with an extremely low or extremely high blood sugar.  A high blood sugar level is especially contraindicated because it can cause delays in healing and higher risks for infection.  Normal blood sugar levels are around 70-100.  We had a sweet patient come in one morning for cataract surgery.  Being a diabetic, we checked her blood sugar.  It was 475.  Red flags went up in all our little nurse heads and we quickly alerted our anesthetist and gave the doctor a phone call.  The head nurse addressed the patient and in a firm and concerned voice told her that we were very concerned for her.  “Your blood sugar is way too high.  We don’t know if the doctor will do your surgery today.  Are you under a doctor’s care for you diabetes?  When was the last time you took your medicine or gave yourself some insulin?  Do you feel alright?”  The poor patient was overwhelmed and dissolved into tears.  Sobbing she replied, “I knew I shouldn’t have eaten two strawberry shortcakes last night but they were so good.  I couldn’t help myself.  I’m so sorry.”  And she cried.   Busted!  The poor woman knew she had done wrong by eating too much of what she should not have had the night before.  Her remorse at her ‘sin’ was evident in the grief she showed.

When our daughters did something wrong, we forgave them, tears were dried, and life went on.  Our dear diabetic patient got sympathy from the nurses as we gave her insulin to bring her sugar down so she could have her surgery.  Then we helped guide her to follow up with her doctor and seek diabetes diet classes so she could better manage her disease.

It made me think.

When we bow our heads and ask for forgiveness from our heavenly Father for things we have done wrong, are we truly remorseful?  Imagine if God himself stood before us as we sinned and just looked at us and said our name.  Would we dissolve into tears like a small child, completely saddened and humiliated at how we have disappointed our Father?  Or if God happened to check up on us and found things a little off, would we tearfully confess everything we’d done wrong and sob in grief?  When we say the confession part of prayers during Sunday church, it seems so easy to recite the words and find our sin slates wiped clean.  I think next time I want to really think about what wrongs I’ve committed.  After all God is just trying to discipline me and teach me right from wrong.  I will never learn to stop sinning unless my sins make me truly sad.

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

just Laurel

Sometimes it seems like people are never satisfied.  We want bigger and faster.  We want results now.  We want more.  We want better.  We want a different job and a new house.  We ask for change.  We want to get away from it all and go on vacation and then we miss home and can’t wait to get back there.  We want tomorrow now and wish away our today.

When Ted and I were young and dating, I couldn’t wait to get engaged to him.  Then I couldn’t wait until our wedding day.  Next I was anxious to move into our first apartment.  Then I wished for the house.  Next I wanted to start our family.  Like most long-married couples, Ted and I often think nostalgically about our newly-married days when we were passionately in love with each other and had little money and little responsibility.   Those were good days now long gone and under-appreciated at the time.

My daughter Jill and her husband Andy had to move to the Caribbean for her to attend school.  They gave up a comfortable lifestyle and familiar friends and places.  There are many things they are missing right now.  I reminded her that one day they will be moving back and will be missing all the things that made island living so special.

My daughter Kristen and her husband Ric got married and bravely moved to the far northwestern United States and settled in Portland, Oregon.  They are enjoying the beauty of the Pacific Northwest.  They are also missing friends, family, and the great state of Michigan.

Remember that job that you hated and wanted to get rid of?  In hindsight, it wasn’t really so bad – especially when compared to the current job.  Alright I know that’s not always true, but it is often times true.

Then you wanted that fancy new car.  After it breaks down and you have costly repairs, the older model you got rid of doesn’t seem like it was so bad after all.  And you forgot about the all the larger expenses the larger house you wanted now brings you:  heating & cooling, larger yard to mow, bigger roof to repair.

A certain friend drives us crazy and we make ourselves scarce.  We decide not to spend much time with them anymore and forget the good times once shared.

Your kids drive you crazy and you wish them grown up and moved out.  You skip a trip to the grandparents’ house because you want to stay home and relax and watch your television show.

I could go on and an about how we choose to NOT like our job, our family, our friends, our living situation, etc.  But as human nature has it, as soon as we are WITHOUT those things, we miss them terribly.

My soapbox message today is that we all need to embrace the day and everything it brings.  Love your job.  Love you home.  Love your family.  Love you neighbor as yourself.  Appreciate all that you DO have and stop trying to change it.  You will one day miss what you had today.  You will wish for one more chance, one more time, one more taste, one more hug, one more touch, one more glimpse.

My friend lost her daughter to Melanoma Cancer today.  Her daughter had a husband and two young sons.  My heart breaks for my friend and I can only imagine her pain.  I am sure she would give anything to go back and spend more time with her daughter.  One more time.  One more word.  One more minute.

So embrace today and all your blessings.

Today.

Psalm 118:24 This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.

just Laurel

Christ is risen!

He is risen indeed!

Hallelujah!

Forgive me for not blogging for a whole week!  Life got too busy with other things taking priority.  I hope everyone had a blessed Easter.  We had a lovely Easter weekend with a visit to Ted’s folks on Saturday and with mine on Sunday.

Today I tried to play catch-up.  There were errands to run and ‘stuff’ to take care of.  One ‘stuff’ I had to do was to get Amanda and make a visit to the local social security office.

(sigh)

Amanda gets social security income because she is permanently disabled.  It basically pays her rent and electric bill.  A week ago I got a mildly threatening letter that told me to come to the social security office OR ELSE her benefits would have to be terminated.  Ya gotta love government programs.  And I really do think that society has an obligation to take care of some of us – like Amanda.  But too many people get caught up in the government assistance programs and learn to ride for a long time.  Government needs to give assistance and then help people become self-sufficient and successful so they can stop being dependent.  But because there are those people that take advantage of the government assistance to the point of abuse, I understand that everyone must be screened and checked up on so that the system is not being abused and robbed.  Enough of my soapbox speech … getting back to Amanda.

When we got to the social security office, we had to check in with a computer and take a number.  It wasn’t a simple first come, first serve, with numbers in order like 24 – 25 – 26 – 27 – 28.  You were M217 or R125 or K247.  They were calling several rolls of numbers all with a different letter as prefix.  The place was packed with almost every seat taken.  I opted to stand but was told by the security guard present that I HAD to sit down.  Everyone who came in after me HAD to sit.  Were they worried about us striking out with a kick or a punch?  Were they simply being considerate and making sure we sat before our long time standing resulted in our passing out?  Or was it to simply keep us lower, and subordinate?  When a gentleman who was told to sit down took his seat next to mine, I looked at him and joked, “Oh, good, you look much less threatening sitting down!”  The room was also freezing cold (the government must have neglected to pay the gas bill) although we were treated to a TV on the wall in front of us.  It was permanently tuned to SSTV.  Wow.  Social Security Television.  (yawn)  And we also had no choice but to sit, bored and shivering, in very uniform rows.  The chairs were all zip tied together so that the rows could not be rearranged.

Forty-five minutes after entering, our number was called.  We went up to window “C” and had to explain why we were there.  The girl clattered some stuff on her computer keyboard and told me I could sit down (again) until they called my name.  After another half an hour they called my name and said to go to window number twelve, down the hall.

Have you seen the movie “Beetlejuice”?  “Beetlejuice” is a 1988 American comedy horror fantasy film about a recently deceased young couple who become ghosts haunting their former home.  They spend some time in the netherworld where they have to meet with their caseworker, Juno.  It’s kind of creepy in the netherworld and there is a scene where the young couple meanders along a hallway as they look for the office they are to first meet with their caseworker.  It looked like this:

 

That’s how I felt as I made my way down the hall to window number twelve.  It was a long endless hallway with numbered windows, each with exactly two chairs in front (with the chair legs zip tied together).

Long story short, Amanda and I had our little interview and Amanda will continue to get her SSI check.  But the whole experience left us feeling so de-moralized and degraded.  The questions made us feel like we were trying to hide something and I did not care for the patronizing smirks as I was made to feel ignorant and lower class.  Both Amanda and I felt really depressed as we left the social security office.  It felt awful.  After freezing while being strongly encouraged to sit in one of many straight rows of chairs, then waiting and waiting only to wait again, and finally being spoken to albeit not so respectfully – it made me very sad and discouraged at the whole social security program and any and all government programs our current administration has in store for us.  I won’t dwell on it because Amanda is pretty much set right now and we won’t have to pay a visit for a while.  But my sympathies go out to those who must endure visits to the social security office.

So to turn this around in order to look at the positive I once again look at our great Lord and Savior.  When we present ourselves before Him, we are welcomed and loved, no matter what wrongs we have done.  His mercy and grace is abundant as He builds us up.  He does not make us wait.  He does not tear us down.

Psalm 3:3 But you, O Lord, are a shield around me, my glory, and the one who lifts up my head.

When I am down and, oh my soul, so weary;
When troubles come and my heart burdened be;
Then, I am still and wait here in the silence,
Until you come and sit awhile with me.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up… To more than I can be.

Christ is risen.  He is risen indeed.   Happy Easter!

Just Laurel

I have this thing against restaurants that serve food buffet style.  You know what I’m talking about.  The all-you-can-eat buffet where people stuff their faces to get their money’s worth of food.  They have a lot of them in this part of Michigan.  I refer to them as restaurants with feeding troughs.  The food is almost always sub-standard or simply ordinary.  All of it usually ends up tasting pretty much the same, too.  A nicer way to refer to them is “Smorgasbord”.  Now there’s a fun word.  It’s from the Swedish Smörgåsbord and it refers to a type of Scandinavian meal served buffet-style with multiple cold dishes of various foods on a table.  I suppose when you are trying to feed and please a large group of people then it can be a handy thing to serve many foods.  The Swedish Smorgasbord might be interesting as it might offer new and tasty dishes I haven’t yet tried.  But the American Smorgasbord, aka the Buffet…yuck.  As I have already stated, not only do I find the food to be of lower quality, I tend to eat (when and if I DO have to eat at one) too much of it and I end up feeling bloated and sick.  Heaven knows I see plenty of people walk out of those feeding troughs … errr … I mean buffets who have obviously filled up way too many times.

I would much rather sit down to a meal of quality.  Perhaps a piece of fish that is fresh and cooked to perfection with a fresh vegetable of some kind.  Really, any kind of homemade meal that has been made from scratch and offers quality food that has been cooked with care is better than any buffet.  Basically, I would choose quality of food over quantity any time.

The other day, I felt like my life was in buffet mode.  I have my hands into so many things right now that I feel like I am just getting by with the ordinary basics of life and not producing any quality.  I am busy with a little bit of church, a sprinkling of singing (at church), a dash of looking-after-Amanda, a good cupful of working at the Surgical Center, a smidgen of selling stuff on ebay, a bunch of cleaning out for the April garage sale, an ounce of trying to keep the house clean, a pint of attention to my husband, and a teaspoon and tablespoon of many more ingredients.  And I don’t like buffets!  Everything is just ‘okay.’  I would really like to cut out some of those many ingredients in my life and really season and prepare a few select ingredients to perfection!

Ah well.  At least everyone is happy and getting fed right now – thanks to Laurel’s buffet she is serving up!  I came across this verse in Proverbs as I was searching for verses about eating and gluttony:

Proverbs 25:16 If you have found honey, eat only enough for you, or else, having too much, you will vomit it.

Haha!  I love it.  Such good advice.

I hope the future will bring me many gourmet meals and I can stop wallowing in the feeding trough – err I mean – the buffet!  Or else I will vomit it!

🙂

Just Laurel

Dinner tonight was pure vegetarian.  Ted and I are not vegetarians but simply enjoy meatless meals as much as ones with meat.  Tonight we were to each have a big fat baked potato, roasted broccoli, and Asian slaw with cabbage, carrots and almonds.  We were hungry and anxious to eat.  It had been a long work day for both of us.  I microwaved our potatoes tonight to save time.  I was first to get my potato on my plate and eager to split it open so I could top it with some butter and cheese.  As I smashed the potato open and the brown skin broke away, my potato was … well … it was green!  Not just a spot of green – it was all over green.  It was darker green near the surface but still green tinged as I dug deeper.  Ted showed up and I pointed out my green potato, but I was so hungry I decided to eat it anyways.  It smelled normal and the bit I tested tasted normal.  But I happened to say to Ted that I once had read that you shouldn’t eat green potatoes.  Ted broke into his potato, and his was green too!  “Well let’s find out for real” he replied, referring to getting to the truth about green potatoes.  He did a search on the internet and sure enough – you shouldn’t eat green potatoes!  Basically, the green is a build-up of chlorophyll which then produces a substance that is toxic and can make you sick to your stomach.  Large amounts can cause paralysis of the central nervous system and one website spoke of it being a carcinogen.  Read it for yourself at snopes.com:  http://www.snopes.com/food/ingredient/potato.asp

The potatoes got trashed.

I couldn’t believe how my lovely spuds with their brown jackets had hidden green flesh inside.  I just didn’t see it.  The green was hidden beneath the surface.

Ahhh … of course I can relate this to real-life!

How many of us go to work, or to a friend’s house, or to church and put on this perfectly lovely façade when underneath, we are really not-so-good?  We’ve all done it.  We might be feeling ill, we might be angry at our spouse, we might be trying to hide how tired we are, or we might be sad or upset over something.  But then we put on a happy face to pretend that everything is alright.  Inside, we are not alright.  I guess the good news here is that just when we are thinking that no one understands or knows how we feel, we must remember that God knows.

Psalm 38:9 O Lord, all my longing is known to you; my sighing is not hidden from you.

I love the wording of this Psalm – ‘my SIGHing is not hidden from you.’

<sigh>

The other thing to keep in mind is that if we often spend our days hiding the brokenness beneath a happy facade, then others must be doing it too.  If someone else treats you in a mean, impatient, angry, or indifferent way they just may be hurting inside over something.  They are hiding their pain beneath a false coat of contentment.   Hopefully God can give us the eyes to see when others are like this so that we can show some compassion.

Here’s hoping that we all have happy exterior coats that are not hiding toxic green interiors!  But if your insides are hurting – you aren’t keeping it hidden from God!  You better talk to Him.

And be on the look-out for the green spuds out there – people who are hiding beneath their own false exteriors – maybe you can lend a hand.

And don’t eat green potatoes.

just Laurel

Forgive me readers but I never got back to you about my gluten free bread experiment.  The bread was… weird.  It didn’t rise much although it did have bubbles and holes in the texture.  It was very yellow in color – probably due to the two eggs and the yellow from the yolks.  Those eggs also made it taste pretty, well, egg-y.  It was strange and not your typical bread.  Ted ate it with no complaints.  (There is little he won’t eat.)  And I gave a loaf to my gluten-free neighbor with apologies about how it might not taste very well.  She loved it – and toasted it for breakfast.  (Ahh … maybe toasting it would make it taste better!)  It made me appreciate how difficult it must be for people on a gluten free diet to find baked goods that are palatable.  And I won’t give up.  I shall happily attempt baking gluten-free again.  I have to give it a second chance.

Speaking of second chances, I gave good ‘ole quinoa another chance today.  For those of you who don’t know what quinoa is (pronounced KEEN-wah) it is usually considered to be a whole grain, but is actually a seed that can be prepared like whole grains such as rice or barley.  It is tiny and round and known for its high source of protein and amino acids.  (It is also gluten-free.)  Many years ago I tried cooking quinoa.  It was gross!  I did not like the taste at all.  Nasty.  Thanks to the pantry fairy I mentioned once upon a time in another blog, I became the owner of a bag of organic quinoa.  Today I gave it another chance and cooked a cup of it.  Then I added chopped colorful mini-peppers, raisins, fresh parsley, chopped pecans, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, turmeric, and a dash of cayenne and – it is simply delicious!  I have more quinoa in the pantry bag so it shall be cooked and used again.  A successful second chance!

As I made my way through the day, I happened to send Amanda a jibjab card that featured her as the Easter Bunny.  I posted it on her Facebook page so she could see herself and have a giggle.  Now for those of you who have read, Amanda, Perfectly Made, you know how   Amanda is absolutely terrified of the Easter Bunny and her reaction to just seeing someone dressed up like the Easter Bunny is to PUKE.  I told Amanda that I know how much she LOVES the Easter Bunny so that I made her one.  She told me she liked the card – that it was cute – but that (and I quote) “It DOESN’T change the way I feel about seeing one.”  I guess we don’t have any second chance here with her making friends with the Easter Bunny. (Here’s the link to the card in case you want to view it:  http://www.jibjab.com/view/SXZjuPwUTdp0sKfctBXn )

Thank goodness for second chances.  They give us a chance to get better at something, to try again, to find out we like something, or to reaffirm a dislike.  We also have the chance every day and every minute to stand sinless before God.  We can botch things up and totally fail, only to ask forgiveness and have the slate wiped clean.  Thank goodness God gives us second chances.  And third … and fourth … and fifth …. His mercies endure forever.

Just Laurel

My husband Ted snores.  I think many of you know this fact already because I may have mentioned it before.  He had a sleep study done and now sleeps with a bi-pap machine so he can sleep better and more quietly.  If he falls asleep on the couch, however, he does not have his bi-pap on.  And he snores.   Sometimes very loudly.  Ted works hard and many times does not get enough sleep, so when this happens in the early evening I try to ignore it and let him get his little nap.  Even though the noise of his snoring makes my shoulders rise up and I want to muzzle the poor guy, I try to leave the room – and leave the noise behind.  The other night his snoring was SO LOUD that I grabbed his phone and turned on the video camera to record about three minutes of his sawing, snorting snore sounds.  I wanted him to hear what I hear.   After Ted woke up, I told him that I captured the moment of his snoring concerto on video.  Later, I saw him intently listening to himself in snoring action.  He was very quiet and almost in awe at what he heard.  He had always listened to me comment on his horrendous snoring and this was the first time he actually heard it for himself.

Sometimes people don’t listen.  Well, they think they are listening but they don’t really hear what is being said.  So many times I find that people just like to talk and talk – and even when I ask a question or put in my own two cents to the conversation, they still keep babbling without acknowledging in any way whatsoever that they heard me.

Hearing problems can sometimes be the reason you aren’t heard.  I have to laugh, though, when people who haven’t really heard what I say decide to answer it like they have heard.   Many times the answer is so inappropriate to the question.  Like when you tell Grandma over lunch how “After lunch I need to run to the store,” and she replies, “Oh sure – you want some more?”

People are sometimes just too busy to listen.  I have learned through the years to not share interesting news with Ted if he is preoccupied with the computer screen in front of him.  I will get a “Uh-huh” from him to acknowledge that he heard me talking, but he didn’t really HEAR what I said.

Psalm 4:3  But know that the Lord has set apart the faithful for himself; the Lord hears when I call to him.

Thank goodness God hears us.  He is always listening.  Even when we yell at Him – He hears.  I’ve even had times when I have no words to describe my anguish and I look to Him and say simply, “You know my heart, Lord.”  He never misinterprets.  He knows.  And he’s never too busy to listen.

He knows my name
He knows my every thought,
He sees each tear that falls
and hears me when I call.
(lyrics from the song ‘He Knows My Name’)

Just Laurel

(written for Judy B. – God hears you.  1 John 5:14 If we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.
Prayers for you for strength.  Love you.)

What flavor are you?

On my way home from work the other day I was speaking to Ted on the phone.  He was asking me how my day at work had been.  My day had lasted longer than usual, I explained to him.  At work there is usually one doctor operating out of two operating rooms, working first in one room, and then the other.  On this particular day we happened to have two doctors working.  When doctor number one was done with all their patients, we switch gears and started over with doctor number two.  The day lasted longer than usual.  The way I described my day to Ted came out like this, “The day was good.  Long.  We had two different doctors today.  The first one was the cranky mean doctor and the second was the lady doctor who is so sweet.  So we had two different flavors today.”  I don’t know why it came out that way – describing the two different personalities as flavors.  But that seemed to fit.  One was sweet, and the other sour.  One was pleasant, and the other left a bad taste in your mouth.

In the middle of that same work day, I had questioned a co-worker who had to work physically close with doctor number one, about how she felt working for Dr. Cranky Pants.  She answered me that she often goes to bed at night, thinking about what her next work day will be like.  She felt bad, she continued to tell me, that she was not too excited about coming to work when she recalled the doctor she would be working with.  She felt bad about thinking that way, but commented about how SHE would feel if someone else was thinking that same way about working with HER.  Wouldn’t that be sad and horrible if you knew that people were not too eager to have to be around you?

So still on the same work day, another co-worker whom I work with only perhaps once a week, was being silly and referred to ME in a comment to another employee when she said, “Well, I’m not like Laurel over there all quiet and reserved.”  She was being sincere.  I laughed and told her that I was actually many faceted and the other sides of Laurel were simply not reflected in the work place!  I must say, it was nice to be referred to as “quiet and reserved” and not “mean and cranky.”  But the whole day’s events had me seriously considering this whole issue of ‘how others see me.’  When I was a young mother, did others see a good mom or a bad mom?  Am I someone that others like to work with?  Am I perceived as nice or not-so-nice?  Do people choose another pew at church to avoid sitting with me?

Ultimately, a person could go bonkers if they worried about pleasing everyone they came in contact with.  And even more ultimately, the only one we really have to please in the end is God.  <gulp>

Doctor number one the other day was definitely the sourest flavor of lemon:  bitter and causing one’s face to scrunch up.  Doctor number two was peach pie.  She was warm and sweet, and just happy and something you wanted.  She made us all smile.  I want to be vanilla flavored.  I love vanilla ice cream.  Such a pure flavor – all creamy and, well, vanilla-y.  Of course I like to change it up – top me with raspberry sauce some days.  And on other days I am full of chocolate chip cookie dough.  So I have a good base of vanilla cream – but I like to change it up to fit the circumstances!

Do you know different flavored people?  Life certainly is full of a menu of different people!

I hope God likes vanilla 🙂

just Laurel