Scripture: Yes
Silence: Yes, between University Boulevard and San Jose Country Club
The Deed/The Day: Today I dropped off a bag of microwave dinners for Chuck at the Epilepsy Foundation. It was one of those money-in-the-bank deeds, however. I had already teed myself up for it earlier this week, so this deed was not one of those reflexive, exciting, see-it-meet-it kind of do-unto-others moment. But I know it will be a well received deed. And maybe sometimes deeds do take a little preplanning.
I had a leisurely ladies lunch today with Miss Everybody's Grandmother at San Jose Country Club. MEG is a smiling and sweet little 91-year-old south Georgia doll who wanted to thank me for writing a story about her last month. What a treat. I rarely go to lunch. I'm usually hunched over my computer with a piece of toast and peanut butter during the noontime hour. MEG was wearing a buttery yellow twin set and chunky yellow jewelry with white pants, her hair was in a comfortable coif. She smelled like powdered sugar. During lunch she told me story after story about how she has become a mother and a grandmother to many people of the years — to girls at church, to her deceased sisters' children and grandchildren, and to her own children and their children. She worked at the neighborhood Methodist Church for 51 years before she retired this year! Can you imagine? MEG said she had so many opportunities to help others during her work there in the office and as the wedding coordinator — oh, and as the coordinator of countless senior dining adventures. Sometimes, she said, people would just come into the office upset and in a tizzy — and all they needed was to talk to somebody. And she was happy to be that somebody. It was refreshing talking to MEG — she was just so aware and appreciative that she was being used for unlimited good in her life. It's one thing to smell like powdered sugar and share grandmotherly smiles with people. But it's quite another — I think — to be aware that it's all for a greater cause.
Words of encouragement/advice: Every heard of Brother Lawrence? I picked up his book one time awhile back and have gotten into it a little during Lent. His theory is that you should just constantly have a conversation going with God. It's a great idea (although, I'd be afraid I was talking to "Other Me," the voice that nags, and worries and makes snarky comments about annoying incidents and people throughout the day) Here's a few words from him and some background on Brother Lawrence:
Brother Lawrence, born Nicolas Herman, was a lay brother in a Carmelite monastery in Paris during the seventeenth century. When he entered the monastery at the age of twenty-four, he took the religious name Lawrence of the Resurrection. He spent most of his religious life working in the monastery kitchen, cooking and washing dishes. Father Joseph de Beaufort, a priest who knew Brother Lawrence, compiled a booklet of Brother Lawrence’s letters and stories and maxims and published the book after Brother Lawrence’s death in 1691. Some words from Brother Lawrence:
"We ought not to grow tired of doing little things for the love of God, who regards not the greatness of the work, but the love with which it is performed.”
“There is not in the world a kind of life more sweet and delightful, than that of a continual conversation with God; those only can comprehend it who practice and experience it.”
Final thoughts: I want to smell like powdered sugar, and know it.
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