We have a resident in our home that loves to cuddle.  It’s either that or he is attacking my feet.  We’re talking sharp teeth and claws here that draw blood.   Oliver the kitten.  I suppose it’s just the way kittens are – they play and pounce and scramble and explore as if they have springs in their legs and a never ending supply of energy.  Suddenly the energy supply is completely run down to zero and the kitten collapses in to a sweet ball of sleeping fur.  I like to say that when Oliver is doing that he is simply recharging his batteries.  He’s a quick recharger, too.

Oliver’s curiosity is boundless.  I am amazed how he goes a little farther every day.  When he first got here and was less than a pound in weight, he only explored as far as about two of the rooms of the house and stayed on the floor.  Each day he goes a little farther and ends up a little higher – from the coffee table to the couch to the kitchen chair to the kitchen counter.  <sigh> There’s no stopping him.

There are times we have to discipline his wild curious energy by a spray of a water bottle or kitty prison – we put him under an over-turned laundry basket.  (He hasn’t learned to get out …. Yet.)

The funniest thing he has learned to do is he gets to the kitchen counter and parks himself on top of the coffee maker.  It’s like his perch.  He fits now but a full grown cat will not squeeze into that spot.  He hovers on the top of the coffee maker when Kristen or I am getting dinner ready as if he is over-seeing our production.  Have you seen the movie “Ratatouille”?  It’s a computer-animated Disney movie about a determined young rat who dreams of becoming a renowned French chef.  I think Oliver has become our ‘CATatouille’!

Anyways … it has been interesting with a kitten in the house.  Cats have certainly earned a special reputation over the years.  Here’s what others say about cats:

A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way.
Mark Twain

I wish I could write as mysterious as a cat.
Edgar Allan Poe

‘But I don’t want to go among mad people,’ said Alice. ‘Oh, you can’t help that,’ said the cat. ‘We’re all mad here.’
Lewis Carroll

Lettin’ the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier ‘n puttin’ it back in.
Will Rogers

When I played in the sandbox, the cat kept covering me up.
Rodney Dangerfield

I am really a dog person.  I am learning to appreciate cats, though.  I would love to be as light and flexible on my feet as they are.  But more so, I love their curiosity.  I think it is great to always wake up and want to go a little farther … a little higher … and to always be discovering something new.

But I’m not going to scratch and claw people along the way.

Stupid cat.

Purrrrrrrrrrr

Just Laurel

Ecclesiastes 7:23-25 “I am determined to be wise” but this was beyond me.  Whatever exists is far off and most profound—who can discover it? So I turned my mind to understand, to investigate and to search out wisdom and the scheme of things and to understand the stupidity of wickedness and the madness of folly.

Don’t you just hate those days when nothing seems to go right?  Maybe you aren’t feeling your best, or you paid a bill late, or the kids are driving you nuts, or you get out of work late, or you are stuck by a train for twenty minutes, or you forget to pack your kids’ lunch, or you have nothing for dinner, or the washing machine breaks and sends a flood of soapy water everywhere, or the house is a mess and you’ve been trying to clean it since last week, or everyone and everything needs your attention and you just want to throw in the towel and run away from it all?

You can’t fool me – I can see all of you nodding your heads!  Of course we’ve ALL had one of those days.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could always have a clean house, always have the laundry and dishes done, always have enough money for what we wanted to buy, always have everything we needed to make everyone happy?

Life just doesn’t work that way, does it?

It made me think 🙂

The world was perfect for Adam and Eve before the whole apple episode.  In the stage production of the show, “Children of Eden” by Stephen Schwartz, Adam and Eve are living the perfect life as the chorus sings:  “And their love was perfect … And the day was perfect … And the next was perfect … And the next … was perfect … And the day after that … And the day after that … Each one perfect as could be.”  It sounds wonderful, doesn’t it?  And maybe that’s how we’d all like our days to be.  Perfect.  But when things are going well for us, don’t we all tend to start whining, “I’m bored!”  So we start looking for more.  We start looking beyond the norm of our melancholy lifestyles.  In “Children of Eden” Eve looks beyond the boring perfect normal and believes that God left a tiny spark of fire in her from His creation of her that is making her fingertips itch to find out what other things exist.  Like serpents.  And apple trees.

In one of my favorite movies, “While You Were Sleeping” Sandra Bullock is talking to Jack, the brother of a guy who is in a coma and who Sandra is supposedly engaged to.  But the coma guy doesn’t know about the engagement while meanwhile Jack and Sandra are falling in love – confusing I know – but a good movie.  Any ways – Jack is trying to find happiness in his life while making everyone around him happy and he tells Sandra what she needs to do. Sandra says to him, “And what are you, Jack, the happiness guru?”  Ha!  Raise your hand if you’ve ever taken a day to try and please everyone.  Hello Happiness Guru!

Now let me share with you another movie – “Bruce Almighty” where Jim Carrey takes over the job of being God, played by Morgan Freeman.  In one scene he is dealing with hearing all the voices of prayers from people as they pray and ask God for requests.  It made me think 🙂 of how God must go crazy with us asking him for stuff all the time.  Jim Carrey is overwhelmed with the needs of all the praying souls and tries desperately to answer all the incoming prayers.  He tries filing them, using sticky notes, getting a website to organize them and … well … if you want you can view the clip yourself:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0cG11lTS1E

Jim Carrey finally defaults all the prayers to the same answer – “Yes.”  So guess what happens?  Everyone gets what they ask for – and they still aren’t happy.

So what is our lesson here?

I think we need to sit back and thank God for those crazy imperfect days.  Why?  Because there is no such thing as a perfect day – both because of the bite of an apple, and because you just can’t make everyone happy all the time.  You can never have things perfect.  And those bad days?  Well, they test us, they teach us things, they help us discover what’s beyond, they help us grow and they help us appreciate the days that may get close to perfect.  In “Children of Eden” Adam sings about how they once had a garden full of all they could eat, but Eve responds, “But it seems the fruit our own hands grow, somehow tastes twice as sweet.”

It can’t all be good and it can’t all be perfect.  If it was, we’d all get bored and itchy in our seats as we looked for something new and different.  So let’s thank God for when things are going well – too often we forget to say that when times are good.  And when the day (or week or month) starts going awful, remember that God said He would never leave us.  He’ll help us through.  The path may just lead to a wonderful destination.  In the meantime, we can trust that God has us just where we belong and however rough the road, we will arrive stronger, more faithful, more appreciative, and more blessed.

I think it’s snack time now – I’m hungry!

I’m thinking … an apple!

Yum.

Here’s to … beyond!

Just Laurel

James 1: 2-8, 12   Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.  Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.  If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.  But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.  That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.  Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.  Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.

Patients who come for cataract surgery at my place of work are often from different ethnic backgrounds.  Many of them don’t speak English.  Oh we do fairly well with pointing and explaining some things with hand gestures.  But there is a lot of information that needs to be communicated where hand gestures just don’t work and that is why they are told ahead of time to bring someone to interpret for them.    So what do you think is going on when I ask a patient’s attending friend or family member who is also the designated interpreter this question with the following answer:  “Would (s)he like orange juice, apple juice, or some water to drink?”  And they answer, “Yes, okay okay.”  Uhhh … no.  Or I might ask, “Is your mother diabetic?”  And the response is, “ … “  followed by a blank stare and then, “Yes, okay.”  Really??

If you don’t speak English and you need an interpreter … Why do you bring someone who doesn’t speak English?????

If you were going to go fight in a battle, wouldn’t you take someone with you who you knew could fight?  If you were going to climb to the roof of your house, wouldn’t you take someone with you who knew about roofing a house?  If you were going camping in the woods, wouldn’t you take someone who knew about pitching a tent and building campfires?  If you were going dress shopping for a big event, wouldn’t you take someone with some fashion sense?  If you were having a surgical procedure, wouldn’t you take someone to get medical directions in case you didn’t speak the language?

Ugh.

Folks, I am sorry to unleash my frustration, but when considering EYE surgery and keeping your VISION, don’t you think you would need to know some details?  I know – I know – perhaps these individuals did not have any friends who were fluent in English.  And on the positive side, I must say that most of the non-English speaking patients at least know how to say “Thank you.”  I have had my share of sincerely spoken “Thank-you’s” that even included a gentle hand squeeze, sweet hug, or peck on the cheek.

It made me think 🙂

When faced with a critical decision or circumstance in your life, do you go alone?  Why would you do that?  If health issues are creating havoc in your life or the life of your friend or loved one – or if you have a rough day of work ahead of you that follows a short night of sleep – or if you have studied day and night for an upcoming difficult academic test – or if you have more tasks to do than you have time for – or if you are called upon in any of so many areas of life where the going seems scary or extra-challenging – why aren’t you bringing your interpreter with you?  God can strengthen and go along with you and help you through.   With Him, all things are possible!  He is your very best advocate!

I don’t know about you, but I’m going to try to take God with me wherever I go.  I’ll let him ride shotgun and I know he’ll take the wheel when I can’t interpret which way to go.

Why would I go alone?
Why wouldn’t I want an interpreter?

Just Laurel

John 15:5 5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”

Ephesians 6:10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

 

This past Friday night I had the opportunity to attend the 51^st Annual Enshrinement Ceremony of the National Aviation Hall of Fame where four men were honored as legends of flight.  I was impressed both on the grand scale and for one individual.  On the grand scale, it was humbling to be in a room with six hundred people who radiated such intense patriotism.  Many of the attendees were military – either retired or in active duty – and you could tell they loved their country.  The National Anthem was played and a blessing was said before our meal.  Our country needs more of that:  Patriotism and faith.  And folks – they go hand in hand, don’t they.  Just read the first words of the Declaration of Independence: We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. From the beginning, America’s founders accepted the reality that basic rights were inseparable from human beings and they recognized that those inalienable rights were not given by government nor acquired by force, but that life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are the gifts of the Creator.

The one enshrined individual who made the greatest impression on me was Patrick Henry Brady.  This man was once dropped from the ROTC program, expelled from Army Intelligence School, and almost failed Army helicopter school.  In January 1964 Brady volunteered for Vietnam and was assigned to the 57^th Medical Detachment – Helicopter Ambulance.  He ended up flying in two tours of Vietnam where he flew over 2,500 combat missions and rescued over 5,000 wounded.  Brady flew during the night, and in weather and terrain that was as deadly as the communists.  He often extracted patients from areas where other aircraft had failed.  But what really moved my heart was when Brady was given the chance to speak on Friday night, and this is what he said (paraphrased as best I can recall):  “So many of our rescues were into places that were thick with smoke, full of brush and trees, and seemingly impossible to get to … and I would pray to God for Him to find a path and to guide me in there so we could bring the wounded out.”  Wow.  In the midst of the horrors of the Vietnam War and with mines exploding and bullets flying, this man totally put all his trust in his Lord and Savior.  Totally.  That is faith pure and true.

Patrick Henry Brady set a huge example for me.  Besides being a hero for all the wounded he rescued from the bloody jungles of Vietnam, he is my hero for his example of faith and trust.  How often do we pray for God’s hand to lead and guide us through a difficult day or situation?  But do we totally give up all of our control to let God take over and guide us?  Brady had to relinquish all control to let God fly his helicopter safely in and out of battle zones.  Do we surrender all to Him?  Or do we hold on to the part we want and wrestle for control?  You can’t have two sets of hands on the steering wheel – or on the stick of the airplane!  Few of the conflicts most of us face could ever come close to the life or death battles Brady faced.  Why are we so stubborn to trust God to pave the safest path for our lives?  He sees what we cannot.  He knows what we do not.  He can do what we cannot.

Thank you, Patrick Henry Brady, for your service to your country and for the example you set with your faith.

And (willingly) may we learn to let God be our guide.

Just Laurel

Psalm 23:3 He refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.
Psalm 31:3 Since you are my rock and my fortress, for the sake of your name lead and guide me.
Psalm 48:14 For this God is our God for ever and ever; he will be our guide even to the end.
Psalm 67:4 May the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you rule the peoples with equity and guide the nations of the earth.
Psalm 78:14 He guided them with the cloud by day and with light from the fire all night.
Psalm 78:53 He guided them safely, so they were unafraid; but the sea engulfed their enemies.
Isaiah 58:11 The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.

If you are a reader of my blog then you already know that I am a recovery nurse in an ambulatory surgical facility.  I tend to the patients when they come out of surgery.  Of course, I have thirsty and hungry patients who have followed pre-surgery orders not to eat or drink.  My patients are almost all happy to be offered a drink of juice or water.  Many of my patients are also dying for a cigarette (no pun intended).  But I understand.  The addiction to nicotine is a fierce one.

I tried smoking cigarettes once and they never grabbed me.   I have my own addictions:  Chocolate. Potato chips.  And most any kind of candy.  If there is a bowl of candy around or an open bag of chips … like the Lay’s Potato Chip ad stated, I cannot “eat just one”.  (I also have a passion for peanut butter – by the spoonful.)  My daughter recognizes this fact and sent me this lovely cartoon with the statement, “This reminds me of you”.  Thanks daughter.  But she’s right.

So why am I bringing this up?  In my attempt to read some of the book of Romans, well, I am not theologically trained, and in my trying to understand it, this is what I’ve come up with…

Man is sinful.  It’s just our nature.  It is our craving.  Ever since the fall in the Garden of Eden, man learned to be greedy, selfish, envious, and sinful in many ways.  We try to break the habit.  It’s not easy.  It’s just so easy to be bad.  By God’s grace, he becomes rather like our counselor and coach to help us become more righteous and holy.  Romans talks about us becoming slaves to either evil or to Christ.  And that’s really what it becomes – we both devote ourselves to following the sinful life and allow evil to be our master.  Or we break our sinful addiction and allow Christ to be our master.  The thing is – like any recovering addict, we have to practice every day to keep strong and resist sinning.  If we don’t, we can quickly fall off the wagon.  Thankfully, God is quick to forgive and always gives us another chance.  It’s hard work to put our sinful nature behind us and to live life anew with Christ.  It takes daily discipline.  You have to squelch the old habits and cravings.  Hopefully the new walk with Christ will become the new habit.

I know we are all trying to be good students of God’s word.  Sometimes what we read is simple to understand and sometimes (for us common people) it is challenging to understand.  Here’s some of Romans chapter 6 from which I unraveled in my own words above:

Romans 6:11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13 Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. 14 For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! 16 Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. 18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.  19 I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness. 20 When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. 21 What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Addictions are bad.  Some harm more than others.  We all know when we smoke too much, or eat too much, work too much, or have more than we should of a lot of things.  But don’t let your ‘too much’ of something be your master.

Hope you don’t mind me being ‘preachy’ today!  I just wanted to share with you how I came to some understanding of my bible reading.  But do you know how many rolls of those little “Smarties” candies I had to eat while I tried to wrap my head around Romans 6?

The whole bowlful.

Just Laurel

This is the story of my co-worker I will call Ryan.

As a nurse in an ambulatory surgical center, my co-workers are mostly other RN’s and several techs that assist us.  We are all female except for Ryan.  Ryan is a tech.  The job of the tech is to help with transporting the patients to and from the operating room, get patient temperatures and blood pressures, and basically help the RN’s so that we can do the paperwork, pass meds, and tend to the IV’s.

Ryan is helpful to have around because, being a guy, he can help with moving the heavier patients.  But Ryan can be a pain in the butt.  He is a prankster and is always stealing my pen.  He takes things and hides them or makes us beg for them to be handed back.  He comes in in the mornings always yawning and tired and is the first to want to leave at the end of the day.  He likes to grab a marker and put lines of ink on another tech’s arm.  He will scribble on my schedule.

Ryan comes across to me like a teenager.  Imagine my surprise when I found out he was thirty-two.  I heard he had a son about sixteen years old and another child by his current girlfriend.  Ryan also lives at home with his parents.  Some days we get really frustrated with Ryan.  The other co-workers would complain about him.

I decided last week to look at Ryan from another angle.  I recognized that he was really good with the patients.  Truly.   So instead of complaining about Ryan, I decided to take him on in a different way.  He was standing by my work area and I turned to him and said, “You know, Ryan, you are really good with the patients.”  “Huh? Really?” he replied, “You’re not just being sarcastic are you?”  “No,” I told him, “You do a very nice job of talking to them and making them feel comfortable.  So maybe you could treat your co-workers the same way!”  I added with a smile.  “Really?” he asked me again with wide eyes.  “You think I do a good job?”  “I really do, Ryan.  I think you need to believe in yourself because you are quite good at what you do.  I’ve seen you interact with patients and they really like you” I told him sincerely.  “Well, thank you,” Ryan replied to me.  I think I surprised him.  I think I may have boosted his otherwise sagging self-esteem.  I just wanted him to see that he was good at his job and maybe boost his confidence.

Crazy Ryan.  I must say that he keeps the work day lively.

I got a three day weekend with today, Monday, off from work.  I was running errands when my phone rang.  The caller ID showed my work number and I answered the call from the nurse in charge.  “Laurel,” she said, “I know you will be at work tomorrow but I wanted to let you know today because the rest of us here already know – but Ryan is dead.  He died in his sleep and they found him dead Sunday morning.  They don’t know what happened but will be doing an autopsy.”

Oh my goodness.  I started to cry.  Not crazy, immature, lovable, fun Ryan?  He had just purchased an engagement ring for his girlfriend.  He was trying to get his act together.  He was too young to have his life cut short like that.

And then I remembered my last conversation with him.  I was so glad I made him feel good.  It would have been horrible if our last exchange together had not been nice.  I would have felt terrible.

It made me think 😉

You never know when you are talking to someone for the last time.  Isn’t it better to part on encouraging words instead of on negative ones?  What if I had said something sarcastic and teasing?  If my last words had been bitter or mean, I would have regretted that tone of our last conversation before his passing.  And if I look at things in reverse, what if I had passed instead?  I would much rather be remembered as one who shared encouraging words.

I never imagined last weeks’ conversation with Ryan to be our last.

Be careful how you talk to people.  What if yours is the last voice they hear?  What if your words are the last you will speak?

Earlier last week, Ryan showed me a new necklace that he had just purchased.  It was a gold chain with a crucifix on it.  I scolded him because it cost him way too much money.  He was very proud of it.  I never had gotten a chance to talk about faith with him.  He knew I sang at my church.  I hope he wore a cross because he believed and had Christ in his heart.

Darn you Ryan for becoming my friend and then dying on us.

You can have my pen, Ryan.  Keep it.

Ryan, if you can see my tears, I hope you know that they fall because you were fun and a good person and I cry because I will miss you.  And because you were my friend.

Just Laurel

If you are a regular reader of my blog then you know about Skipper the cat and how he had to be put to sleep several weeks ago.  I neglected to tell you that it wasn’t more than a couple of weeks after that when my daughter came home from a weekend away and deposited a small, less-than-a-pound, fur ball on my lap.  Welcome Oliver the kitten.

Sigh.

Needless to say, he has already stirred my swirling thoughts into producing a story for today.

Oliver is totally cute.  You have to wonder where the batteries go to power this little curious bouncing ball of fluff.  He will play and play and play and play and … then … stop … to crash into exhausted nap mode.  He is so tiny, we have to watch where we step.  Little kittens come with tiny razor sharp claws and teeth.  We have to always be on the lookout … because  … I may be standing at the sink doing dishes … or sitting at the table working … and without warning … little quiet Oliver will suddenly leap at your leg and grab on to your pant legs with all four paws at full claw extension.  YEOW!  He grabs on and CLINGS as if he was wrapped around a tree trunk and then proceeds to climb up my leg until he reaches my lap.  Oww, oww, ow, ow!  Sometimes, when I see him coming, I reach down and lift him to my lap to save myself from his prickling climb up my leg.  Many times he will continue with claws extended to play in my lap and bite and claw at my hands and clothes.  I am not his litter mate.  I don’t like that kind of play and I promptly plop him back on the floor.

It made me think  😉

How many times do we stray from God in our lives, only to suddenly recognize that we need Him?  We then proceed to desperately reach for him in an attempt to grab hold and cling to Him for help.  I can envision God in His greatness, feeling His lost sheep as they grab at his feet in hopes of making it to the comfort of His arms.  “Oh, you’re back!” He might think as He smiles and sees us nearby.   Of course, our great God will always forgive and welcome us back to Him.  But all too often, we reach the safety of his care, only to want to play by our own rules.  I can see God gently placing us back down like I did with Oliver the kitten, only to wait for us to come back again.

Oliver played that game a couple times with me today.  He wanted up so badly that I reached down to lift him to my lap so I wouldn’t have to suffer his sharp claws.  I was more than happy to scratch his ears and give him a warm place to rest.  He was back on the floor several times until he finally got the message that I wasn’t going to play his game of sharp claws and teeth and he finally turned on the purring to enjoy the warmth and safety of my arms.

God loves us and wants us close.  He wants us to cling to Him.  If we have strayed, He is more than joyful to gather us back in His fold.  Then why do we expect to get there and still play the game of life by our own rules?  If our stray path in life has caused us to want to get back on track and back to Christ, we must rest in His arms and let Him take over.  He knows what is best for us.

Thanks Oliver.  Ow, ow, oww, owwww.
You stinky, furry, darling, little pest.

Just Laurel

Psalm 63:8 I cling to you; your right hand upholds me.

Romans 12:9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.

The other day I was feeling like my wheels were spinning yet I was going nowhere.  You know the feeling:  When you are so busy with stuff and yet you feel stuck in a rut and not making any progress.  I don’t like that feeling.

Yesterday I started physical therapy for my back.  Today I woke up and it hurt more than usual.

Sigh.

I feel like it’s time to make some progress in my life yet I feel stuck where I am and tired of it too!  Do you ever feel that way?  With my back hurting me and the crisp yet sunny morning beckoning  I got my walking shoes on and left the house hoping I could clear some cobwebs from my head.  I was hoping the walk would loosen up my back too.

Now I have this route that I have been walking for a couple of years that consists of a path of concentric circles, like the leaves of a shamrock, so that I can walk a short distance and be back home, or continue with another round and lengthen my walk.  As I walked out the door with my attitude I found myself walking in another direction.  I started grumbling to myself that I had totally gone in an old direction that makes me walk a long distance away from the house before I can walk back home.  But I kept walking.  I started mumbling to God as I do on my walks and obediently shut up so I could listen instead.

Here’s what I heard:

It’s okay if some days we feel like we are going nowhere.  The good thing is our wheels are still spinning!  If we stop moving … well … we stop.  We just sink deeper into that mud pit that we are stuck in.  But if we keep moving with our wheels turning, sooner or later the wheels are going to catch hold and we’ll find ourselves moving again.  Maybe we want to get moving TODAY but maybe God has a reason for us to be patient and wait for progress to be made tomorrow.  I have an acquaintance who is struggling both with a special needs child and an ailing elderly mom who has been in and out of hospitals lately and she wants things to change and get better NOW.  She is tired of being stuck in her rut.  I understand.  But whether we are stuck for 5 days, a year, or thirty years – I believe if we put our trust in God, He has a reason for the timing and will give us the strength to keep our wheels spinning.

I remember once when I was stuck in my car on an icy street corner.  I panicked and tried at first to push on the accelerator in hopes of driving fast off of the ice.  That didn’t work.  Only when I calmed down and gently started rocking the car – forward, then reverse, then forward, then reverse – did I get some real strong forward momentum going and I was able to calmly move forward and off my icy patch.  And I think life is like that sometimes.  Stuck in a rut, we may have to spin our wheels for a while or even take a few steps backward, then forward, and even backwards again before we can continue on our journey.

When I got to the end of my walking route today, I was tired and mad at taking a different route today.  But I had no choice, for to get back home I had to walk some more.  I made it home of course, and my back even stopped hurting.  I think it was stiff and stuck too – and just needed to be limbered up.

Stuck in a rut?  Waiting for directions and a new route?

Just keep moving  🙂

Hebrews 12:1b Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.

Acts 17:28 For in Him we live, and move, and have our being.

Just Laurel

The other day at work as we were finishing up for the day, the nurse manager got on the paging system in the building and announced, “Code T, Code T.”

I had no clue!

Was she just joking about something?  Was it something real?  I know about ‘code blue’ and ‘code red’ but ‘code T’?  Everyone was walking leisurely to one area of our building.  So I followed.  “What is going on?” I queried.  “Tornado drill,” someone answered.  “Ohhh …” I thought … “There must be some bad weather outside and there is a threat of tornadoes.”  Really??  No – it was just a drill and one that I hadn’t been told about before.  The “T” of course stood for tornado and there is a designated safe place in our building – in case of a real tornado.

A ‘drill’ is a good thing.  It can help you train or rehearse you on a subject or procedure.  When there is suddenly a fire, a non-responsive patient, or even a tornado – you can be ready to react and help almost automatically because of the repetitive practice drills you have performed.

It made me think.  🙂

Prayer and bible study are the practice drills for our faith!  You might say you believe in God, but if you never go to church or train by reading the instruction manual (I’m talking Bible here) then how are you going to react when trouble happens?  All too often, people who say they are Christian but do not practice their faith will call desperately to God when something bad happens in their life and they need help.  That’s okay because God will hear us when we call – and He remembers us – even when we haven’t been around to visit in a while.  He may even send you a little life challenge to grab your attention and get you back in the fold.  But wouldn’t it be better to be prepared and ready for troubles?  People are always attending in-services and seminars to become better at their jobs and professions.  We all need to drill ourselves in our faith.  It will help us stay calm and prayerful in a crisis, knowing and believing God’s peace.  But keep in mind that – just like a medical person has been drilled and trained to do CPR on a person in a medical crisis – maybe we can jump in and do some sharing of God’s peace and love when we see someone in a personal crisis.  No one is going to yell “Code P, Code P,” when they are in need of some prayer.  You’re going to jump right in there and help when you see that help is needed.  If you’ve been spending time in prayer and studying your manual – it will just come naturally.

1 Peter 3:15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and be ready always to give an answer to every man who asketh you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear.

Someone at the office tornado drill asked if there were any other ‘code’ drills that we needed to know besides the code blue, code red, and code T.  We were told that those were the only drills but that we needed to know what to do in case of a bomb threat.  What??  A bomb threat?  I know the code word for that – RUN!

Just Laurel

I had a doctor appointment this morning to have my hand checked.  About a year ago I had my first visit with Dr. Singer, a hand surgeon, to arrange for a small tumor to be taken out of my palm.  Through the course of my surgery and post-operative visits with Dr. Singer we realized our paths may well have crossed some twenty-five years earlier.  He had been doing his residency under a pediatric hand surgeon who did the surgeries that Amanda had on both of her hands.  Dr. Singer related to me the emotional experiences of his time spent at Children’s Hospital of Detroit.  The struggles and pain that he saw families go through touched him deeply as he watched those families either crumble apart or pull together under the strain of the adversity they were facing.  I gave him a copy of my book, Amanda, Perfectly Made.  Dr. Singer is a very busy man and over the course of several appointments, he kept me updated as he read a little more of the book between each visit.  Today he informed me he had finished it – how he loved it – and how another woman in his office was now reading it.  Both he and this other woman embarrassed me by praising the book and how wonderful it was.  It especially touched Dr. Singer as it reminded him of his early days of being a surgeon and how patients and their families struggle sometimes with challenging medical circumstances.  The memories helped him to remember to keep in mind the patient’s perspective and individuality.

I left the doctor’s office with tears in my eyes.  As I drove home, I had the radio on and the news stories were all about the memorial activities happening in New York City with it being the twelfth anniversary of 9/11.  My heart broke as I remembered the horror and shock of that day.  The tears in my eyes threatened even more.  I had to stop them so I could drive.

Remember.

That is the theme for today I guess.  And remembering is good.  Past experiences, either good or bad, form who we are.  Nine eleven was horrible and so many people lost loved ones.  But loved ones should not be forgotten.  For the people who survived, the memories of friends and family who once influenced their lives are instrumental to whom they have grown to become.  Remember.  And for Dr. Singer, his recollection of how he once felt so much compassion for patients’ lives and not just their medical needs reminded him of how to be a better doctor.

Remember.

I know we all have things we’ve done or things that have happened in our past that we’d like to forget.  For the most part, we keep those memories buried.  But at times, it is important to remember that painful, sad, or embarrassing memory because it can help us to not be so mean or unkind to others today.  The good memories we need to share – to keep that memory alive.  I just read the other day about how kids who have heard stories from their parents about their grandparents, and things that happened in that parents’ childhood (you know – the “when I was your age” stories) actually grow up with more self-esteem and confidence.  The reason why is because they are aware of the past that they came from – that they are part of a bigger picture and legacy than being just a person in the here and now.

As I was leaving the doctor’s office this morning, the woman who was currently reading my book called to me and said, “Oh – here – this was a note from Dr. Singer that was stuck in the book that he wanted you to have.”  It reads “Great book – just as I remember.”

Remember.

2 Peter 1:15 And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things.

Psalm 22:2 All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him.

Ephesians 1:16 I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.

Just Laurel