On Monday, this was my scripture standout: Romans 9: 19 "One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who is able to resist his will?” 20 But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’”[a]21 Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?
On Monday, this was the deed that transpired: To make it to the school carpool pick up line on time, you have to get aggressive about making left hand turns at a particular signal. I was ready and wheeled Beast Master quicky and sharply to the left (she was practically up on two wheels!) — determined, like many other moms in mini vans and suburbans, to gather my precious loot on time. Then there she was. An old lady with a walker, attempting to cross the street I had raged onto. There were other determined mothers behind me, too, so I had to think fast. But I gave Beast Master a "whoah, whoah girl," slowed, then stopped and let the limping lady pass. Guess what her T-shirt said? It was a little rainbow with the words "New Beginning" printed underneath. I'll say.
On Tuesday, this was my scripture standout: Romans 10 "4 Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes."
On Tuesday, this was the deed that transpired: I cooked a big dinner and no one ate it due to several circumstances between Boy Scouts, a Powder Puff Football Game and turkey hunting. I let it go, and put it in the fridge. Also wished my sister-in-law safe travels and to relax on her upcoming vacation — she needs it! Maybe people like knowing that other people are thinking about big things on their horizon?
On Wednesday, today, this was my scripture standout — one of my all time faves and definitely a number two or three on that Casey Kasem Top 40 hit list: Hebrews 12
1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart."
OK, and I liked today's Forward Day by Day devotional very much, too. Thought it really fit in to this experimenting with do-gooding challenge. It is gut-wrenchingly sad, but something to contemplate this Holy Week. Here 'tis:
John 13:21-32. After saying this Jesus was troubled in spirit, and declared, “Very truly, I tell you, one of you will betray me.”
Jesus was human, too. We focus a lot on Jesus’ divinity. When the fact that he knew what it was to be human slips our grasp, his understanding seems like something cerebral and not visceral.
At the root of my humanity lies a potentially insatiable self-centeredness. Given its way, it can become unquenchable. Nothing, not even the richest of imagination, will put out its fire. This “what’s in it for me” mindset is at the root of all my problems and is where my fears live. From those fears come anger, greed, intolerance, and a host of other shortcomings.
It is no accident that all religions point to the forgetting of self, because all religions know salvation lies in self-forgetting.
Jesus knew what it was like to be human. He had to. Not like someone who’d studied it in college and now saw it in the person across the desk from him. No, he knew it like someone who had felt it all the way down to the marrow of his bones and had ached from it.
He knew it like I know it, and that gives me hope.
On Wednesday, today, this is the deed that transpired: I pulled an exciting one today — a real winner in the world of deeding. I took Ben to the Dreamette after school, 'cause Hop-a-Long's leg's broke and all. The Dreamette is one of these 1960s-era standalone ice-cream treat stores where you can get milkshakes or towering soft-serve ice cream cones. It's the kind of place where people with the sugars — don't belong. At the Dreamette, it's cash only. I paid for Ben's ice cream and the slid the change back to the girl behind the window. I asked her to use the change to pay for the next person's ice-cream! As we were leaving, I saw a woman approach the ordering window. I smiled inside, even though I could not order the peanut butter chocolate fudge sundae milkshake that I desired with every fiber in my stomach. That was super fun.
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