who’s the Susie in your life…

another one of those wonderful stories that cross my desk…

Come with me to a third grade classroom…..

There is a nine-year-old kid sitting at his desk and all of a sudden, there is a puddle between his feet and the front of his pants are wet. He thinks his heart is going to stop because he cannot possibly imagine how this has happened. It’s never happened before, and he knows that when the boys find out he will never hear the end of it. When the girls find out, they’ll never speak to him again as long as he lives.

The boy believes his heart is going to stop; he puts his head down and prays this prayer, ‘Dear God, this is an emergency! I need help now! Five minutes from now I’m dead meat.’

He looks up from his prayer and here comes the teacher with a look in her eyes that says he has been discovered.

As the teacher is walking toward him, a class mate named Susie is carrying a goldfish bowl that is filled with water. Susie trips in front of the teacher and inexplicably dumps the bowl of water in the boy’s lap..

The boy pretends to be angry, but all the while is saying to himself, ‘Thank you, Lord! Thank you, Lord!’

Now all of a sudden, instead of being the object of ridicule, the boy is the object of sympathy. The teacher rushes him downstairs and gives him gym shorts to put on while his pants dry out. All the other children are on their hands and knees cleaning up around his desk. The sympathy is wonderful. But as life would have it, the ridicule that should have been his has been transferred to someone else – Susie.

She tries to help, but they tell her to get out. You’ve done enough, you klutz!’

Finally, at the end of the day, as they are waiting for the bus, the boy walks over to Susie and whispers, ‘You did that on purpose, didn’t you?’ Susie whispers back, ‘I wet my pants once too.’

May God help us see the opportunities that are always around us to do good…

Each and everyone one of us is going through tough times right now, but God is getting ready to bless you in a way that only He can… Keep the faith.

This prayer is powerful, and prayer is one of the best gifts we receive. There is no cost but a lot of rewards. Let’s continue to pray for one another. “Father, I ask You to bless my friends, relatives and those that I care deeply for, who are reading this right now. Show them a new revelation of Your love and power. Holy Spirit, I ask You to minister to their spirit at this very moment. Where there is pain, give them Your peace and mercy. Where there is self-doubt, release a renewed confidence through Your grace. Where there is need, I ask you to fulfill their needs. Bless their homes, families, finances, their goings and their comings. Amen.”

aging…

No, I’m not this old yet… but hopefully, if I continue to wake up each day, I’ll be here one of these days – and when I am, I pray that my sense of humor will still be in tact… The following is from an invocation and speech given by Mary Maxwell at a caregivers group in Omaha.

Ladies and Gentlemen, as a new client of Home Instead and friend and former neighbor of Lori and Paul Hogan, I’m so honored to be chosen to deliver the invocation this evening, so let us pray. God our Father, you know all that Home Instead believes in and strives for and we ask your blessing on the Home Instead family; the management, the staff, the caregivers and the clients. We are grateful the way everyone here tonight contributes to the success of Home Instead.  And we ask you to continue to bless them and this food which we are about to receive.  Amen.

Oh, sorry God, as long as I have the microphone… there are a few things I forgot to mention. First of all, just to introduce myself a little, over the years I’ve noticed the two things people want to know the most about you are the two things most people are too polite to ask.  So let’s get that out of the way. I’m 72 years old and I weigh 145 pounds. As you know we seniors are sometimes not very likeable let alone lovable, so Lord could you please continue to make the people at Home Instead patient and aware of why we are the way we are.  And Lord, please remind them that the thing about old age is that you don’t get a chance to practice.  This is the first time I’ve ever been old and it just sort of crept up on me. There were signs. Random hair growth – that’s special. Particularly that first time you go to brush a hair off your lapel and discover it’s attached to your chin. You turn your left turn signal on in the morning and leave it on all day. Non-life threatening skin growths large enough to name after deceased pets and relatives begin to appear.  And neck tissue seems to develop a life of it’s own. Last November I was afraid to leave the house Thanksgiving week. {lots of laughter} Aren’t you quick..? {more laughter} You do strange things as you age like driving up to a curbside mailbox and ordering a cheeseburger and fries. And Lord I know you’re aware that one Sunday at church I put my Dillard’s bill in the collection basket by mistake.  And last Easter after services at St. Cecilia’s Cathedral here in Omaha my husband stopped to talk to a friend and I went on out and got in the car to go home. The gentlemen sitting behind the wheel said “Oh are you going home with me?” and I said “Oh Arch Bishop, I’m so sorry.” I won’t even mention driving into the wrong end of the car wash. People get so excited when you do that. I don’t know why the Lady in the other car was screaming like that. I was just as surprised to see her as she was to see me. I also won’t mention discovering that you’re wearing mismatched earrings and going home to change them and ending up wearing the other mismatched pair. And Lord, you know it’s hard for old people to exercise. I did try to jog once, but it makes the wine just jump right out of your glass. Well Lord you understand seniors and their care and so does Home Instead and I have used before a poem I found in a local Home Retirement Home newsletter that I have always thought volumes about Home Instead.

Blessed In Aging by Esther Mary Walker – Blessed are they who understand my faltering step and shaking hand. Blessed who know my ears today must strain to hear the things they say. Blessed are those who seem to know my eyes are dim and my mind is slow Blessed are those who look away when I spilled tea that weary day. Blessed are they who, with cheery smile, stopped to chat for a little while. Blessed are they who know the way to bring back memories of yesterday. Blessed are those who never say “You’ve told that story twice today.” Blessed are they who make it known that I am loved, respected and not alone. And blessed are they who will ease the days of my journey home, in loving ways.

my son was robbed last night…

no, he wasn’t home – neither was his roommate – they are both safe. But this really sucks — and just to give a little context around why even though this situation would suck in normal circumstances, it ESPECIALLY sucks right now…

My son graduated from college this past May. He’s been working for a company for the last few years and will be opening a similar business (sort of like a franchise) right outside of Tampa, Florida. He’s been working diligently to get his ducks in a row. His plan is to leave Charleston in the wee hours of Friday morning, arriving in Tampa by noon.  His “stuff” was ready to go – in the house that was robbed. Papers, notebooks, laptop all containing business plans and information are now gone. I asked him if he had “backed up” – he said no, but if he had, the backup drive would probably be gone too and from his description of the crime scene, he’s probably right. The thieves took everything thing that wasn’t bolted down; went through his clothes (taking the nicer things), overturning mattresses, going through drawers. They even took the blanket off of his bed and the small case that held his contact lens supplies, his razor, and his extra pair of glasses. He’s called his bank to alert them…

With any new venture, he’s going to be cash strapped for a while anyway – buying things he already had was not in his budget so I’m moving some cash around to get him another laptop and few other things that can be replaced (I’ve been saving to pay off a few upcoming things – that will have to wait).  Being his mom, I will help him in any way I can.  I just wish I could help him with those things that money can’t buy. Anyone who has ever been through something like this knows it shakes you to the core. The sense of safety and security that you feel in your own home is destroyed. You feel violated. Your level of trust in humanity plummets – you wonder who you can trust and who you can’t. So here is my ‘baby boy’, leaving the nest (yes I know he’s been gone awhile, but we’ve never been more than 30 minutes away), going out to find HIS place in this world – and he starts his journey with this… yes, it breaks my heart.

I’m sure there will be lessons learned out of all this but right now, today, I have nothing clever to say…. no words of wisdom… no random thoughts – I just feel a profound and deep sadness. Please, keep my son in your prayers as he starts this phase of his life.